The 

Beginning  of  Things 
In  Nature  mb  in  Grate 


Joseph  K.Wi^ht 


•5T  Z2    '  ^- 


/  o, 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented    by"Tr*0"K  .  c3o\nri~ID.ir)c7\\/\5  ^:D.:3D 


Section  *■ 


THE  BEGINNING  OF   THINGS 
IN   NATURE  AND  IN  GRACE 

OR 

A  BRIEF  COMMENTARY 
ON  GENESIS 


BY 


JOSEPH   K.  WIGHT      t         ^^"^  '^'*  ^"^^^  ^ 


BOSTON 
SHERMAN,  FRENCH  iff  COMPANY 

1911 


Copyright,   1911 
Sherman,  French  &  Company 


CONTENTS 

Introduction     ......  ] 

PART   I 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS  IN  NATURE 


I.  Creation  .... 

II.  The  Creation  of  Man 

HI.  The  Unity  of  Mankind 

IV.  The  Garden  of  Eden  and  the  Fall 

V.  Cain  and  Abel 

VI.  Chronology       .... 

VII.  The  Flood         .... 

VIII.  The  Ethnological  Record  and  Con 
FUSION  OF  Tongues 


21 
39 
53 
58 
69 
80 
90 

105 


PART  II 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS  IN  GRACE 

IX.  Grace  with  Respect  to  the  Individual 
— The  Calling  of  Abraham  on 
THE  Divine  Side  .         .  .115 

X.     Calling  of  Abraham  from  the  Human 

Side        .  .  .  .  .125 


CONTENTS 

XI.     Jacob  on  the  Position  of  Prayer  in 

THE  Individual  Life    .  .  .   135 

XII.     Joseph,  or  the  Exaltation  and  Triumph 

OF  Religion  in  the  Individual  Life  147 

XIII.  The  Family—  (1)  Marriage      .  .   160 

XIV.  The  Family—  (2)  The    Training    of 

Children    .....   169 

XV.     Beginnings  of  Grace  in  the  Nation    .  177 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 
IN   NATURE  AND  IN  GRACE 


INTRODUCTION 


INSPIRATION 


It  is  evident  that  our  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  will  depend  very  largely  upon  what  we  con- 
sider the  Bible  to  be.  If  we  look  upon  it  simply  as 
a  human  production  among  other  iiunian  produc- 
tions,— a  system  of  religion  among  other  systems, 
— then  we  shall  expect  mistakes,  false  standards, 
and  false  reasonings,  as  we  do  elsewhere.  But  if 
the  Bible  is  exceptional — a  revelation  from  God, 
and  not  merely  the  teachings  of  man.  we  shall  ex- 
pect to  find  it  a  transcript  of  his  character — a 
pure,  true,  and  safe  guide  in  all  that  it  professes 
to  be.  It  is  given  to  man  as  God's  way  of  salva- 
tion from  sin  and  death.  In  dealing  with  it,  the 
question  of  authorship  is  our  first  question. 

THE  WORD  AND  WORKS  OF  GOD  EQUALLY  FROM 
HIM 

It  is  much  the  same  with  the  word  of  God  as 
with  his  works.  Where  did  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  come  from?  Did  God  make  them.''  or  did 
solid  ground  come  from  nebulous  matter  and  that 
we  know  not  whence.''  If  so,  then  we  may  believe 
in  a  chance  law  evolving  an  orderly  cosmos  out  of 
chaos,  in  vegetable  and  animal,  coming  as  the  re- 
sult of  spontaneous  generation,  and  man  with  his 
wonderful  faculties  and  possibilities  the  descend- 
ant of  Simian  ancestors.  Instead,  however,  of 
1 


2  INTRODUCTION 

such  impossibilities  we  arc  persuaded  that  science 
herself  will  eventually  acknowledge  with  devout 
adoration  the  plain  and  only  satisfactory  solution 
that  a  wise  and  Almighty  God  created  all  things 
by  the  word  of  his  power.  He  began  with  a  clear 
and  definite  plan.  He  spake  and  the  result  was 
fitted  to  carry  out  that  plan,  and  so  is  was  all  very 
good.  So  we  think  with  reference  to  the  word  of 
God.  God  was  its  author,  and  not  any  chance  de- 
sign or  instinct  of  human  thought.  Whence,  for 
instance,  came  the  institution  of  sacrifice?  Could 
our  first  parents  forecast  that  God  could  be  pro- 
pitiated in  that  way,  when  its  full  meaning  did  not 
dawn  on  the  world  until  four  thousand  years  after 
they  were  driven  out  of  Paradise?  Was  it  a  mi- 
grating impulse  that  led  Abraham  from  Ur  of  the 
Chaldees,  or  the  call  of  God  to  a  life  of  faith 
in  the  unseen,  which  resulted  in  his  being  not 
only  the  founder  of  the  Jewish  nation,  but  an 
example  to  the  whole  Gentile  world !  Did  Moses 
and  David  build  Tabernacle  and  Temple  accord- 
ing to  human  ideas,  or  after  a  pattern  shown  in 
the  Mount,  which  indicated  God's  dwelling  with 
men  and  the  way  of  approach  to  him?  Did  Isaiah 
speak  of  himself  or  some  other  man,  when  he 
spake  of  the  servant  of  the  Lord  who  was  a  Prince 
and  a  Saviour  and  who  was  to  be  exalted  among 
the  nations,  as  also  a  Lamb  led  to  the  slaughter? 
Did  Daniel  speak  of  earthly  kingdoms  when  he 
told  Nebuchadnezzar  of  a  stone  cut  out  of  the 
mountains  without  hands,  filling  the  whole  earth 


INTRODUCTION  3 

and  enduring  forever?  Was  the  Lord  Jesus  a 
mere  man,  though  proved  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
by  his  resurrection  und  by  transforming  hinful 
men  into  saints  and  luirs  of  eternal  life? 

But  it  may  be  said  these  questions  refer  to  the 
great  scheme  of  salvation  through  Christ.  That 
is  true.  But  that  scheme  and  the  inspired  word 
stand  or  fall  together.  The  inspired  word 
is  a  part  of  God's  revelation  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, and  how  it  is  linked  in  and  forms  a  part  of 
the  whole  scheme  of  revelation  we  propose  briefly 
to  discuss. 

REVELATION    A    MATTER    OK    GRACE 

Our  first  remark  is  that  a  revelation  at  all,  be- 
yond that  made  in  his  works,  is  a  matter  of  free 
grace.  God  might  have  said  and  virtually  did  say 
for  the  first  two  thousand  years  of  man's  dwelling 
on  the  earth  and  to  the  thousands  of  heathen  since, 
my  works  in  Creation  and  Providence  show  the 
wisdom,  power  and  goodness  of  an  Almighty  Crea- 
tor. That  the  heathen  are  without  excuse  for 
their  idolatry  is  the  position  taken  by  the  apostle 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
and  in  his  speech  at  Athens.  And  then  there  was 
left  in  our  spiritual  nature  not  only  a  disposition 
to  worship  God,  but  to  seek  reconciliation  when 
we  have  sinned,  by  repentance,  as  the  Ninevites 
did  at  the  preaching  of  Jonah.  This  was  still 
further  strengthened  and  directed  by  giving  to 
our  first  parents  the  institution  of  sacrifice.     Fol- 


4  INTRODUCTION 

lowing  these  guides  of  what  we  may  call  natural 
religion,  there  were  not  a  few  who  followed  him 
before  the  Flood — as  the  sons  of  God  and  espe- 
cially Enoch  and  Noah,  who  are  described  as 
walking  with  God.  And  after  the  Flood  were 
such  individuals  as  Melchisedec,  and  Job,  and  Ba- 
laam, whose  knowledge  was  correct  but  wrong  in 
his  practice.  The  vast  majority,  however,  sought 
not  after  God.  And  so  God  began  to  put  in  exe- 
cution a  new  scheme  of  revelation  by  sending  his 
Son  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost. 

FOUR  DIFFERENT  METHODS   OF   REVELATION 

The  Revelation  which  began  with  the  call  of 
Abraham  has  been  carried  out  in  four  different 
ways.  First,  there  was  the  direct  and  special 
message  to  the  individual.  A  second  method  was 
by  a  spoken,  and  afterwards  a  written  message 
through  Prophets.  A  third  was  by  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God.  And  the  fourth  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  believers.  These  different  meth- 
ods aid  and  supplement  one  another.  Thus  the 
written  word  helps  us  to  understand  the  mission 
of  Christ — especially  his  work  as  our  great  High 
Priest.  But  my  special  thought  in  connection 
with  the  subject  of  inspiration  is  the  help  they 
give  to  the  truthfulness  and  reliability  of  the 
record.  The  written  word  has  come  to  us  through 
fallible  men.  Can  we  have  an  infallible  record 
through  a  fallible  source?  Some  would  say,  No. 
And  we  should  all  say  No,  except  for  divine  as- 


INTRODUCTION  5 

sistance.  Did  the  writers  of  the  Bible  have  this 
assistance  in  sufficient  measure  to  keep  them  from 
error  in  fact  and  in  doctrine?  We  maintain  that 
they  did.  Others  allege  that  while  correct  theolog- 
ically, they  shared  with  others  of  their  age  in  sci- 
entific mistakes,  and  have  therefore  given  us 
myths  and  fables,  which  we  are  to  correct  from 
our  more  enlightened  standpoint.  It  might  be 
asserted  also  that  good  men,  influenced,  as  we  be- 
lieve, by  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  constantly  making 
mistakes,  not  only  in  their  conduct  but  in  their 
writings.  Thus  it  is  said  an  Apocryphal  writer 
asserts  that  the  world  can  be  divided  into  seven 
parts,  of  which  two-sevenths  are  seas  and  oceans 
while  the  rest  is  solid  land.  More  accurate  knowl- 
edge would  have  shown  that  two-thirds  or  three- 
fourths  are  water.  So  one  Clement,  who  lived 
not  long  after  the  Apostles  and  wrote  as  Paul  did 
a  letter  to  the  Corinthian  church,  in  the  midst  of 
much  good  counsel,  repeats  as  true  the  fable  of 
the  phoenix,  which  was  said  to  exist  singly  for 
five  hundred  years  and  to  rise  from  its  own  ashes. 
Was  this  weakness,  which  has  been  the  lot  of  good 
men,  though  influenced  by  the  Spirit,  shared  by 
the  sacred  writers?  Have  they  made  mistakes 
in  facts?  I  think  not,  as  I  have  attempted  to 
show  in  the  following  volume  with  respect  to  the 
book  of  Genesis. 

Two  things  have  been  attempted :  First,  to  show 
that  no  good  reason  has  been  offered  for  doubt- 
ing the  facts  as  stated;  second,  that  any  sugges- 


6  INTRODUCTION 

tion  of  alteration  only  increases  the  difficulties  of 
interpretation.  Notably  is  this  true  with  respect 
to  two  leading  facts  of  the  first  part  of  Genesis — 
the  Creation  of  man  and  the  Fail.  If  these  are 
denied  or  in  any  way  misrepresented,  we  come  in 
conflict  with  our  inheritance  through  the  first 
Adam  and  our  restoration  through  the  second. 
The  Bible  is  a  unit  from  Genesis  to  Revelation. 
But  the  point  which  I  wish  now  to  urge  is,  that 
the  other  parts  of  revelation  lead  us  to  expect  ab- 
solute truth  in  the  record. 

TRUTH    TO    BE   EXPECTED  WHEN    GOD   SPEAKS 
DIRECTLY  TO   MEN 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the 
word  and  works  of  God  are  from  the  same  author. 
In  the  19th  Psalm  this  thought  is  enlarged  upon ; 
and  one  of  the  specifications  is  that  the  law  of  the 
Lord  is  perfect.  The  part  then  written  which  we 
are  prone  to  say  is  imperfect,  is  compared  to  the 
works  of  God  in  the  heavens  as  perfect.  We  get 
our  idea  of  perfection  from  the  works  of  nature. 
Exactness  is  the  law  in  the  biology  of  the  universe. 
Like  produces  its  like  now,  as  in  the  dawn  of  crea- 
tion. The  variation  of  the  millionth  part  of  a 
second  is  not  allowed  in  the  clock  whose  wheels  are 
the  stars.  To  this  perfection  Job  is  brought  back 
as  he  suffers  from  boils,  and  is  confronted  with 
the  injustice  of  friends  and  the  seeming  inequali- 
ties of  Providence.  The  Almighty  points  to  the 
work  of  his  hands  in  the  animal  creation  and  Job 


INTRODUCTION  7 

repents  of  his  Imrd  thoughts  about  God  and  rec- 
ognizes the  fact  thiit  in  liis  moral  government,  with 
all  the  entanglements  of  sin  and  Satan,  there  are 
no  mistakes,  any  more  than  in  the  physical. 
When  such  a  God  speaks  to  his  servants  as  he  did 
to  Abraham  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  command,  or  the  duty  of  obedience. 
Even  when  the  command  seemed  to  run  counter  to 
the  promise — especially  when  it  said,  "Take  thy 
son  Isaac  and  offer  him  up  on  the  mountain  which 
I  will  show  thee,"  he  did  not  argue  with  God  about 
the  unreasonableness  and  mistake  of  thus  putting 
away  the  child  of  promise,  but  goes  directly  to 
work  to  carry  out  the  injunction.  It  was  God 
who  commanded,  and  therefore  it  was  right.  He 
would  make  it  plain.  The  Lord  would  provide, 
and  so  he  did. 

TRUTH   TO   BE   EXPECTED   WHEN    GOD   SPEAKS 
THROUGH   HIS  SON 

Again  God  spake  through  his  Son.  Is  there 
any  doubt  about  the  truthfulness  of  him  who 
dwelt  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father;  and  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  his  character  and  perfections  one 
so  like  God  never  before  appeared  among  the  sons 
of  men.  He  represented  the  law  more  clearly  than 
Sinai.  The  morality  of  Pharisees  stood  aghast 
at  his  unveiling  of  sin.  He  changed  men's 
ideas  of  virtue  and  greatness ;  laid  down  new  mo- 
tives for  obedience,  and  instituted  a  code  of  ethics 
never  equalled.     And  yet  he  was  as  simple  and  sin- 


8  INTRODUCTION 

cere  as  a  child.  He  made  no  display  of  power  or 
learning.  He  was  a  King  among  men  and  yet  he 
had  no  palace,  throne  or  army.  He  wielded  no 
sword.  His  only  weapons  were  truth  and  love. 
He  went  forth  as  a  Conqueror  and  yet  suffered 
apparent  defeat.  His  was  a  kingdom  which  took 
hold  on  the  spiritual  and  eternal.  He  lifted  men 
up  into  the  presence  of  God  and  yet  he  looked 
upon  them  with  such  compassion  and  tenderness 
that  mothers  brought  their  babes  to  be  blessed. 
He  showed  his  power  over  the  natural  world  by 
stilling  winds  and  waves  and  healing  all  manner 
of  disease.  He  attested  that  he  was  the  Son  of 
God  by  rising  from  the  grave  on  the  third  day 
and  thus  proclaiming  that  death  was  abolished, 
and  through  him  was  life  eternal.  Moreover  he 
begins  the  spiritual  life  while  we  are  in  the  flesh 
and  we  have  the  evidence  now  in  our  hearts  that 
he  is  "the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life." 

TRUTH  TO  BE  EXPECTED  WHEN  GOD   SPEAKS 
THROUGH  HIS  SPIRIT 

A  single  idea  will  be  sufficient  in  speaking  of 
the  truthfulness  of  revelation  through  the  Spirit. 
How  clearly  the  weakness  and  corruption  of  man 
is  described,  and  over  against  it,  the  way  of  faith, 
the  workings  of  different  graces,  the  need  of 
prayer  and  of  constant  and  growing  cleansing 
through  the  Spirit's  own  divine  agency.  This  is 
really  revealed  in  two  ways  (1)  in  the  written 
word  and   (2)   in  the   consciousness  of  believers 


INTRODUCTION  9 

the  world  over  and  in  all  ages.  There  is  no  gain- 
saying of  this  record  and  no  Christian  would 
think  of  denying  it.  Notice  how  full  this  revela- 
tion is.  It  goes  back  to  Abraham,  is  wonderfully 
developed  in  the  Psalms  which  speak  the  experi- 
ence of  human  nature  in  all  its  varied  moods — is 
especially  the  theme  of  the  Epistles,  and  has  been 
flowing  down  in  the  hymnology  and  Christian  lit- 
erature of  all  ages.  Some  would  write  inspired 
on  the  choicest  of  these  productions  and  very 
properly  so,  as  they  are  the  breathings  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  heart  of  man.  Caution  is, 
however,  to  be  observed  (1)  that  these  utterances 
agree  with  the  written  word  (2)  that  there  be  no 
attempt  or  pretext  to  give  any  new  revelation,  and 
consequently  (3)  that  there  be  no  claim  to  be  on 
a  parity  with  the  sacred  writers  who  were  inspired 
to  give  to  man  an  infallible  written  word. 

Let  us  proceed  to  show  how  truth  is  guaranteed 
to  man  in  the  written  word.  Before  stating  these 
reasons  in  detail  there  are  one  or  two  minor  points 
that  need  to  be  mentioned. 

1.  Chronology  is  sometimes  argued  about  as 
if  dates  in  the  margin  were  part  of  the  text.  At 
the  best  they  are  only  the  calculations  of  unin- 
spired men  who  have  sought  to  reach  approxi- 
mately the  truth.  These  dates  vary  and  no  one 
can  be  absolutely  positive  within  hundreds  of 
years. 

2.  Authorship  where  not  stated  is  solely  a 
matter  of  inference. 


10  INTRODUCTION 

3.  Some  hold  that  inspiration  must  be  verbal 
in  order  to  be  correct.  This  is,  of  course,  true  in 
direct  messages  and  in  such  passages  as  those  con- 
taining instructions  about  building  the  Taber- 
nacle. But  God's  usual  method  of  employing  men 
to  be  co-workers  with  him,  is  to  take  them  with 
all  the  faculties,  original  and  acquired,  with 
which  they  are  endoAved.  Thus  Moses,  learned  in 
the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  did  not  pretend  to 
intrude  his  ideas  into  the  specific  instructions 
about  priests  and  sacrifices,  but  he  did  dare  to 
argue  with  God  about  the  destruction  of  his  peo- 
ple, and  was  accepted  in  the  one  case  as  much  as 
the  other.  So  God  used  the  poetic  genius  and 
tastes  of  David,  the  clear  reasoning  of  Paul,  the 
practical  sense  of  James,  the  statesmanship  of 
Daniel,  and  even  the  disobedience  and  petulance 
of  Jonah  to  carry  his  spiritual  messages  to  men. 

TRUTH   GUARANTEED   THROUGH  WRITERS   MOVED   BY 
THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 

How  has  he  guaranteed  their  truthfulness.'* 
The  only  adequate  and  all-sufficient  answer  is  that 
holy  men  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  In  a  certain  sense  this  is  mysterious.  So 
is  the  operation  of  the  same  agency  in  regener- 
ating and  sanctifying  our  lives.  Only  in  this  case 
the  work  extends  further,  in  keeping  their  writ- 
ings from  error.  Let  us  specify  the  particulars 
which  make  us  believe  this. 

1.     The  intimate  connection  with  other  portions 


INTRODUCTION  1 1 

of  Scripture,  which  \vi'  consider  infulliblc.  When 
God  spake  directly  to  man  or  when  he  spake 
through  his  Son  or  through  the  Holy  Spirit  there 
was  only  one  course  left  open,  and  that  was  to  as- 
sent to  the  truth  of  the  message.  No  small  part  of 
the  Bible  is  taken  up  with  what  they  said  and  did. 
Those  who  recorded  these  things  had  no  motive  to 
vary  from  the  exact  truth.  The  Jews  would  have 
been  better  pleased  if  they  had  conformed  to  their 
views.  And  the  Gentiles  would  not  have  perse- 
cuted if  they  had  suppressed  their  testimony. 
But  they  could  not  but  speak  the  things  they  had 
seen  and  heard.  And  they  had  a  special  promise 
from  Christ  himself  that  when  he  went  to  the 
Father  he  would  send  the  Spirit  of  truth,  who 
should  guide  them  into  all  truth  (John  16:13). 
Partaking  therefore  of  his  life  and  seeking  to  ex- 
emplify it  in  the  world,  they  claimed  the  right  to 
speak  with  authority  as  having  received  the  prom- 
ise. 

2.  Another  guaranty  of  the  truth,  was  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  or  foretelling  the  future.  If 
there  is  anything  in  which  man  is  weak,  it  is  in 
saying  what  shall  happen  even  on  the  morrow. 
But  here  were  men  who  announced  the  time  and 
place  of  Christ's  birth,  the  character  of  his  life, 
the  details  of  his  suffering,  death  and  resurrec- 
tion. And  while  we  have  the  humiliation  and  suf- 
fering, we  have  also  the  exaltation  and  glory — 
two  things  so  incompatible  in  the  same  person, 
that  the  Jew  is  accepting  the  latter  and  looking  for 


12  INTRODUCTION 

temporal  glory  and  that  he  should  deliver  Israel, 
did  not  accept  Christ  as  the  Messiah.  These  fore- 
castings  of  the  future  also  were  not  only  a  writ- 
ten message  but  inwrought  into  their  very  his- 
tory in  type  and  sacrifices  and  service  of  the  tab- 
ernacle, and  in  the  lives  and  characters  of  indi- 
vidual after  individual  during  the  centuries  of 
preparation.  As  has  been  said,  the  greatest  mir- 
acle of  Christianity  is  Christ  himself,  not  only  in 
his  life  and  teachings,  but  in  his  death  and  resur- 
rection, turning  the  tide  of  human  experience  from 
death  to  life.  So  the  greatest  miracle  of  human 
writings  is  the  Scriptures  foretelling  often  what 
the  writers  themselves  did  not  understand,  the  suf- 
ferings of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should  fol- 
low. 

3.  I  add  another  guaranty  and  that  is  the 
unity  and  harmony  of  the  writings  themselves.  I 
might  begin  by  saying  that  there  is  unity  and 
harmony  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  mo- 
rality as  recognized  and  approved  by  the  Chris- 
tian conscience  the  world  over.  Take,  for  ex- 
ample, purity  of  morals  in  a  world  of  sensuality 
and  corruption,  there  is  not  a  line  of  Scripture  that 
panders  to,  much  less  justifies  vice  in  any  form. 
In  the  midst  of  polygamy  there  is  no  justification 
of  its  practice.  In  the  midst  of  wars  and  hatred 
its  testimony  is  for  love  and  peace.  And  so  in 
the  midst  of  falsehood  and  deceit,  the  sacredness 
and  obligation  of  truth  is  preserved  inviolate. 
We  no  more  expect  myth,  fable  or  historical  in- 


INTRODUCTION  13 

accuracy  than  we  would  a  justification  of  impur- 
ity or  sensuality.  But  it  is  said  all  literature  has 
its  myths  and  fables — we  say  except  Biblical. 
And  if  tentatively  it  be  allowed,  it  only  increases 
the  difficulty  of  interpretation  and  explanation. 

But  let  us  keep  more  strictly  to  the  unity  and 
harmony  of  the  writings  themselves.  Considering 
the  fact  that  the  Bible  includes  forty  different 
human  authors  and  extends  over  a  period  of  six- 
teen hundred  years  this  is  most  marvellous.  It  is 
not  uncommon  for  an  individual  writer  to  dis- 
agree with  himself.  But  here  is  the  great  won- 
der that  writers  not  living  at  the  same  time  or 
place,  all  harmonize  in  the  great  scheme  of  man's 
salvation.  It  is  part  fitting  into  part  from  the 
Fall  to  Calvary  and  from  Calvary  to  the  redeemed 
around  the  throne  praising  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain. 

Perhaps  the  most  specious  objection  to  this 
unity  is  the  one  urged  that  the  conquest  of  Ca- 
naan and  the  slaying  of  thousands  is  contrary  to 
the  love  and  kindness  of  the  New  Testament.  Here 
is  an  appearance  of  discord  in  history  and  doc- 
trine, and  which  in  the  Old  Testament  seems  to  be 
emphasized  in  the  imprecatory  Psalms.  But  this 
is  easily  understood  when  we  look  at  the  typical 
nature  of  much  of  the  Old  Testament  history. 
In  the  establishment  of  a  kingdom,  the  first  thing 
is  subjection — the  complete  overthrow  of  all  ene- 
mies. This  was  typified  by  Joshua  and  David. 
Christ   in   the   establishment    of   his    kingdom   de- 


14  INTRODUCTION 

mands  entire  subjection  on  the  part  of  individ- 
uals and  also  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
method  by  which  it  was  to  be  brought  about  did 
not  appear  in  the  Old  Testament  except  as  im- 
perfectly typified  by  the  peaceful  reign  of  Solo- 
mon. But  Christ  is  the  true  Joshua — the  con- 
queror by  truth  and  love.  And  the  work  is  going 
on  until  that  kingdom  which  is  righteousness  and 
peace  comes  on  earth  as  in  Heaven.  So  the 
thought  is  one — salvation  through  an  atoning 
Saviour,  submission  to  him  as  King,  and  by  the 
power  of  a  motive  which  is  eminently  not  of  earth 
but  from  Heaven.  How  wondrous  the  love  and 
patience  that  has  been  teaching  to  man  these  les- 
sons of  the  ages. 

I  might  have  stopped  here,  but  am  inclined  to 
add  a  word  from  my  own  experience.  This  might 
be  duplicated  by  the  experience  of  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  workers  among  non-Christian  peoples. 
I  went  to  China  in  1848,  not  long  after  the  be- 
ginning of  missionary  effort  in  the  five  treaty 
ports.  These  facts  soon  appeared:  (1)  The 
darkness  and  superstition  wrought  by  idolatry 
about  fundamental  spiritual  truths.  Take  for 
example  the  idea  of  one  God  as  the  Creator  of  all 
things.  Not  only  was  this  beyond  the  concep- 
tion of  the  common  people,  but  philosophers  and 
wise  men  were  in  the  same  darkness.  Confucius,  an 
eminently  wise  and  practical  man,  simply  ignored 
what  he  could  not  understand.  He  centred  all 
duties,  both  to  government  and  to  one  another,  in 


INTRODUCTION  16 

the  family — making  our  ancestors  the  object  of 
reverence  and  worship.  But  the  cravings  of  man 
to  know  about  his  own  origin  and  of  all  things 
about  him  could  not  thus  be  set  aside.  So  one  of 
the  common  beliefs  is  that  of  the  giant  Pwanku, 
who  is  represented  with  mallet  and  chisel  chipping 
out  the  universe  from  the  solid  rock.  Buddhism 
that  came  in  to  supplement  Confucianism  about 
worship  of  gods  (though  Buddha  himself  was  a 
man)  and  of  the  existence  of  the  soul  after  death, 
accounted  for  Creation  by  the  succession  of  egg 
from  the  bird  and  the  bird  from  the  egg  and  so 
on  indefinitely — ending  not  in  a  Creator  but  in 
ignorance.  (2)  It  was  a  matter  of  devout  thank- 
fulness that  in  the  midst  of  such  darkness  and 
ignorance  one  could  speak  with  perfect  confidence 
of  a  Creator,  of  man's  origin  and  fall  and  the 
need  of  a  Saviour.  It  was  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  the  simple  statement  of  the  truth  found  so 
ready  a  response  in  the  human  mind.  Assent 
was  given  by  the  intellect,  even  though  the  heart 
and  old  habits  resisted.  With  the  hope  that  I 
could  help  in  spreading  the  light  I  went  to  work 
with  the  aid  of  my  Chinese  teacher,  to  translate 
Genesis  into  the  local  dialect  and  also  prepare  a 
compendium  of  Biblical   history  and   doctrine. 

(3).  This  work  was  interrupted  by  being 
obliged,  through  the  advice  of  a  physician,  to  re- 
turn to  this  country  in  1857.  The  thoughts  and 
plans,  however,  had  so  far  taken  root  that  I  pur- 
sued the  studies  here  so  far  as  I  had  leisure  from 


16  INTRODUCTION 

other  duties.  I  am  glad  that  the  thankfulness  for 
revealed  light  has  continued  through  these  subse- 
quent years.  The  inclination  has  been  not  to  look 
for  the  mistakes  of  Moses,  but  for  the  eternal  veri- 
ties revealed  through  Moses.  Not  that  I  would 
depreciate  in  any  way  humble  and  reverent  criti- 
cism. By  all  means  let  men  use  all  their  learning 
and  knowledge  in  seeking  for  truth.  We  honor 
those  who  do  it,  however  much  they  differ  from  us. 
But  much  depends  on  our  point  of  view.  It  is  one 
thing  to  look  upon  the  Flood  as  an  overflow  of  the 
Valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  hunt  up  Babylonian 
legends  to  support  that  theory,  and  quite  another 
to  consider  it  universal  and  sent  by  Jehovah  to 
punish  mankind  for  sin,  and  yet  hold  out  the  way 
of  escape  by  an  ark  of  salvation.  And  then  I  must 
confess  that  indignation  sometimes  waxed  hot 
when  some  critics — not  all — would  pervert  the 
simple  and  graphic  narrative  about  individuals 
and  make  the  patriarchs  a  story  about  tribes  or 
nations.  Why,  we  can  almost  see  them  with  their 
tents  and  flocks,  or  sitting  under  the  oaks  of 
Mamre.  We  stand  by  their  altars  when  Jehovah 
was  worshipped  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  idol- 
atry. And  their  faults  are  recorded  as  clearly  as 
their  virtues.  And  then  what  a  picture  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  individual  soul  to  God.  See  the  faith 
of  Abraham,  the  type  of  all  believers  the  training 
of  Jacob  and  transforming  him  from  a  supplanter 
to  Israel,  a  prince  of  God,  and  then  how  this  per- 
sonal relation  culminates  in  Joseph  with  his  mas- 


INTRODUCTION  17 

tery  over  temptation  and  in  love  instead  of  wrongs 
against  his  brethren,  and  in  his  exaltation  over  the 
world  as  represented  in  his  being  ruler  over 
Egypt.  It  will  not  seem  strange,  therefore,  if 
some  of  us  are  obliged  to  say,  not  proven,  to  not  a 
few  of  the  claims  of  the  critics,  notwithstanding 
their  acknowledged  learning  and  scholarship.  I 
sometimes  think  they  are  using  the  wrong  end  of 
the  glass  in  looking  microscopically  at  objects 
and  divergencies,  instead  of  taking  in  as  with  a 
telescope  the  magnitude  and  unity  of  God's  plans. 
They  say  of  their  conclusions  that  they  are  proved 
beyond  a  doubt.  But  I  imagine  the  controversy 
will  not  be  over  until  the  Bible  comes  forth  clear 
and  resplendent  with  no  apology  for  myth  or 
fable,  with  no  change  of  history  as  in  Deuteron- 
omy from  the  close  of  desert  wanderings  to  post- 
exitic  times.  We  believe  its  truth  in  all  statement 
of  facts  will  shine  out  just  as  positively  as  its 
purity  and  complete  adaption  to  the  wants  and 
capacities  of  man.  When  Christ  was  crucified,  his 
friends  came  with  linen  and  spices  to  prepare  him 
for  his  burial.  They  were  loyal  in  their  grief. 
They  sought  to  make  all  amends  possible  for  what 
his  enemies  had  done.  But  their  work  was  un- 
necessary, for  he  was  not  dead,  but  risen.  So  the 
written  word  has  about  it  a  living  vitality  which 
cannot  be  buried  any  more  than  a  living  Christ. 
We  apologize  and  bring  our  explanations.  But 
are  they  in  accord  with  the  living  word.''     If  not, 


18  INTRODUCTION 

they  will  lie  in  the  grave  and  be  forgotten.  May 
the  time  be  hastened  when  we  shall  all  rejoice  in 
the  living  word,  man's  safe  and  only  guide  from 
earth  to  heaven.  T   K  W 


PART  I 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 
IN  NATURE 

THE    FIRST     ELEVEN     CHAPTERS 
OF     GENESIS 


CHAPTER  I 
CREATION 

1.  The  main  thought  of  the  Bible  is  God's  reve- 
lation of  salvation  for  man.  But  who  is  the  Re- 
vealer?  and  who  is  the  Saviour?  No  answer  is  so 
appropriate  and  satisfactory  as  this,  that  he  who 
provided  the  salvation  is  the  Creator — our  Crea- 
tor, and  the  Creator  of  all  things, 

THE    ULTIMATE   AGEEEMENT    OF    SCIENCE    AND 
EEVELATION 

As  the  main  thought  of  the  Bible  is  acknowl- 
edged by  all  to  be  theological  or  religious,  it  is 
held  by  some  (as,  for  example.  Canon  Driver  in 
his  "Commentary  on  Genesis")  that  its  statements 
may  be  true  theologically  but  not  scientificallt/. 
Driver  quotes  with  approval  the  remark  of  Abbe 
Loisy  that  "the  science  of  the  Bible  is  the  science 
of  the  age  in  which  it  was  written.  And  to  ex- 
pect to  find  in  it,  supernatural  information  on 
points  of  scientific  fact  is  to  mistake  its  entire 
purpose."  (p.  33).  This  seems  plausible.  But 
take  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  "In  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  it  is  a  scientific 
or  a  theological  fact.  The  few  details  of  the  cre- 
ative process  in  the  first  chapter  might  be  called 
scientific  statements,  which  some  would  dispute, 
but  when  we  come  to  the  record,  "God  created 
21 


m  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

man  in  his  own  image,"  shall  we  call  that  a  scien- 
tific or  a  theological  statement?  Canon  Driver 
and  others  would  put  it  in  the  realm  of  antiquated 
science,  but  a  fuller  and  fairer  investigation  may 
show  that  it  is  true  both  scientifically  and  theo- 
logically. If  Revelation  is  from  God,  the  direct 
inference  is  that  what  he  says  accords  with  his 
character  in  being  absolutely  true.  The  words 
and  works  of  God  are  both  from  him,  and  need 
no  reconciliation,  except  in  our  interpretation.  In 
the  interpretation  great  mistakes  have  been  made, 
but  we  can  rest  assured  of  an  abiding  agreement 
in  the  last  analysis ;  because  God  is  the  Creator 
and  Author  of  all  that  we  are  trying  to  reach  by 
both  science  and  revelation.  The  following  pages 
have  been  written  with  the  hope  of  finding  such  an 
agreement  possible;  and  the  result  has  been  an 
increasing  conviction  that  whenever  science  has 
attempted  to  find  fault  with  revelation,  the  only 
satisfactory  solution  is  to  come  back  to  the  words 
of  the  Book. 

CREATION   OUT   OF   NOTHING 

2.  In  the  beginning,  says  the  record.  When  that 
was,  no  one  can  say.  Science  has  helped  us  to  say 
very  positively  that  it  was  more  than  six  thousand 
years  ago.  The  great  fact  is  not  when,  but  that 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  There 
are  two  possible  ways  of  accounting  for  the  exist- 
ence of  matter  (1)  that  it  is  eternal;  (2)  that  it 
was  made  out  of  nothing.  An  attempt  by  Sir  Wm. 


CREATION  23 

Hamilton,  Wilford  Hall,  and  others,  to  think  of  a 
third  way  ,  viz.,    that    matter    was    condensed    or 
evolved  out  of  the  being  of  God,  is  unsatisfactory. 
Its  leaning  is  towards  Pantheism,  or  that  God  is 
the  soul  of  the  universe.     God  created,  not  simply 
fashioned,  but  created  the  original  material.    Mat- 
ter  in   its   original  simplest  form  is  supposed  to 
have  been  nebulous.     Unresolved  nebulje  are  found 
in  various  parts  of  the  heavens.     And  in  our  own 
solar  system,  Jupiter,  though    thirteen    hundred 
times  larger  than  the  earth,  has  a  specific  gravity 
less  than  water.     From  this  and  other  indications, 
it  has  not  yet  attained  to  an  organization  as  com- 
plete as  our  earth.     Guyot  is  inclined  to  maintain 
that  in  the  expression,  "the  earth    (Heb.   ereto) 
was  without  form  and  void,"  there  is  a  reference 
to   matter   in    general,   and    that     waters     (Heb. 
ruaim)   refers  to  a  gaseous  or  fluid  state  of  the 
universe  ("Creation,"  by  Guyot,  chap.  6). 

THE    SPIRIT    THE    AUTHOR    OF    LIFE 

3.  Over  this  chaotic  state  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  or  hovered.  Genesis  gives  the  word,  which 
occurs  only  here  and  in  Deut.  32:  11,  the  force  of 
brooding  over,  as  the  eagle  over  its  young,  and 
thus  imparting  life.  This  thought  which  is  foreign 
to  any  merely  human  cosmogony,  is  especially  im- 
portant as  the  record  of  an  underlying  truth,  that 
the  Spirit  is  the  author  of  all  life.  We  know  that 
the  highest  life,  that  which  links  us  to  God,  is  from 
above,  or  the  work  of  the  Spirit.     So  here  in  tlie 


/ 


24         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

great  work  of  creation,  before  chaos  is  awakened 
into  order  and  life,  the  Spirit  of  God  is  repre- 
sented as  brooding  over  unorganized  matter.  As 
matter  could  not  make  itself,  so  its  subsequent 
forms  of  order,  life  and  beauty  are  of  divine  ori- 
gin. This  truth  has  two  significant  bearings — 
First  as  to  the  record  itself.  It  confirms  the 
thought  of  inspiration.  It  is  an  advance  state- 
ment of  what  human  wisdom  would  not  have  ven- 
tured to  state  so  early  in  the  record.  And  second, 
science,  as  long  as  it  confines  its  investigations  to 
the  material  and  does  not  allow  for  the  workings 
of  the  spiritual  above  and  over  it,  imposes  a  lim- 
itation upon  itself — a  limitation  which  makes  it 
fall  short  of  the  truth.  In  the  revealed  cosmogony 
mind  and  matter  are  indissolubly  connected — God 
the  Creator  and  the  thing  created ;  and  we  fear  the 
scientific  will  never  be  right  unless  the  theological 
is  admitted  to  its  right  position  also. 

LIGHT 

4.  We  come  now  to  the  actual  work  of  creation 
during  the  six  days  or  periods  of  time.  The  first 
thing  created  was  light  by  the  simple  fiat  of  the 
Almighty.  This  was  physical  light,  for  in  one 
sense  God  was  always  light.  "In  him  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all"  (1  John  1:5).  Physical  light  is  con- 
nected with  motion  and  heat.  There  is  no  local- 
izing either  in  this  creation  of  light.  Heat  there 
was  in  abundance  on  our  earth,  and  a  luminous 
atmosphere  seems  to  have  continued  for  ages,  not 


CREATION  25 

needing,  and  perhaps  not  having,  the  light  of  the 
sun  until  the  fourth  day  or  period.  This  creation 
of  light  preceded  and  would  be  helpful  to  life 
whenever  it  should  appear.  Heat,  the  usual  ac- 
companiment of  light,  does  not  cause  life,  but  pro- 
motes and  stimulates  it  after  it  once  exists.  The 
living  plant  responds  to  light  and  heat  from  the 
sun,  but  the  sun  has  no  such  effect  on  dead  wood 
or  inorganic  matter.  Prof.  Haeckel  maintains 
that  in  its  first  or  lowest  forms,  life  comes  through 
spontaneous  generation.  But  Pasteur  and  others 
have  shown  that  even  in  fermentation,  a  living 
germ  is  a  necessity.  By  chemical  analysis  and 
microscopic  observation,  we  may  get  very  near  to 
life,  but  we  never  touch  it,  much  less  can  the  most 
consummate  skill  make  a  living  worm. 

DAYS    LONG   PERIODS   OF    TIME 

The  first  time  period  was  marked  by  the  crea- 
tion of  light.  It  had  been  night, — darkness,  phy- 
sical darkness,  in  our  solar  system  at  least,  until 
this  entrance  of  light  which  was  the  first  morning, 
and  it  was  called  Day.  These  days  had  no  meas- 
ure, according  to  our  standard  of  twenty- 
four  hours  each,  until  the  fourth  period.  This 
St.  Augustine  long  ago  recognized,  and  called 
them  Dies  ineffahiles,  peculiar  days.  This  use  of 
the  term  day,  for  periods  of  time  longer  than 
twenty-four  hours,  is  so  generally  acknowledged 
that  there  is  no  need  of  spending  time  in  discuss- 
ing it. 


26         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

Translators  of  the  Bible  into  heathen  languages 
after  spending  time  in  choosing  the  best  words, 
often  find  them  inadequate,  and  are  obliged  to  lift 
them  from  their  surroundings  and  give  them  a  new 
and  higher  meaning.  Days  and  firmament  are 
examples  of  what  might  be  called  a  two-fold  use. 
Days  are  used  in  a  limited  and  also  in  an  enlarged 
sense,  and  the  other  (firmament)  clinging,  it  may 
be,  to  antiquated  science,  and  yet  ready  for  the 
new  meaning  when  it  breaks  upon  the  understand- 
ing of  men. 

ATMOSPHEBE 

5.  The  next  creative  process  was  the  making 
of  the  atmosphere  or  expanse;  which  our  transla- 
tors, following  the  Septeragint  and  the  Vulgate, 
translated  firmament.  This  translation  (approved 
by  Driver)  has  given  currency  to  the  idea  that 
the  Bible  supported  the  theory  that  the  heavens, 
in  which  the  stars  were  placed,  was  a  solid  sphere. 
If  so  it  was  manifest  that  at  least  the  lower  part 
of  this  firmament  was  transparent  and  the  upper 
might  be  and  could  be  left  to  further  investigation 
to  modify.  But  the  American  translators  give 
expanse  as  the  equivalent  for  the  Hebrew  word. 
And  this  suits  the  office  which  the  atmosphere  was 
called  upon  to  discharge  of  separating  or  bearing 
up  the  waters  in  the  clouds  from  the  waters  be- 
neath. It  has  been  estimated  that  prior  to  this, 
an  enveloping  vapor  extended  some  two  thousand 
miles  or  more  above  what  we  now  call  oceans,  and 


CREATION  2T 

that  the  oceans  themselves  were  throwing  up  hot 
spray  or  steam  from  the  uncooled  globe. 
("Miracle  of  To-day,"   p.   G4). 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the  important 
uses  which  the  atmosphere  serves  in  bearing  up 
and  distributing  moisture  over  the  globe,  nor  its 
relation  to  animal  and  vegetable  life.  Neither  is 
it  necessary  to  discuss  whether  it  was  first  made 
pure,  or  was  for  a  time  filled  with  gases,  such  as 
carbonic  acid,  which  would  have  been  helpful  to 
the  plants  of  the  carboniferous  period.  Air,  like 
light,  has  its  thousandfold  uses,  which  the  sacred 
narrative  does  not  pause  to  mention. 

6.  The  third  day  brings  us  into  contact  with 
vegetable  life.  But  before  its  appearance,  and  in 
order  to  bring  the  world  into  shape  for  a  habita- 
tion for  man,  there  was  the  gathering  of  the 
waters  into  seas,  and  the  appearance  of  dry  land. 
With  the  knowledge  which  we  have  gained  from 
the  up-turned  edges  of  soil  and  rock,  this  has  been 
a  slow  process.  From  the  seething  caldron  of 
vapor  and  steam,  the  igneous  rocks  were  slowly 
cooled,  and  lifted  up  into  mountain  ranges.  And 
then  these  have  been  washed  down  and  deposited 
in  sedimentary  rocks.  Again  and  again  have  con- 
tinents and  islands  been  lifted  up,  and  as  often 
submerged.  Rivers  have  found  channels  and 
worn  them  into  deep  canons  by  waters  more  abun- 
dant than  now  flow  between  their  banks.  Suc- 
cessive forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  have 
clothed  and  peopled  the  surface,  leaving  no  vestige 
except  in  their  tombs,  of  their  former  existence. 


28         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

Volcanos  have  lifted  mountains,  poured  down  tor- 
rents of  lava.  Coral  insects  have  built  up  islands. 
And  as  we  look  at  these  manifold  changes,  we  won- 
der how  long  this  process  has  been  going  on.  Sir 
Wm.  Thompson  estimates  that  the  time  required 
from  incipient  incrustation  to  its  present  state 
does  not  exceed  eighty  million  years.  But  with- 
out going  back  so  far  it  has  been  estimated  that 
the  time  from  the  formation  of  the  sedimentary 
rocks  has  been  thirty  million  years.  This  esti- 
mate is  based  upon  the  rate  of  erosion  in  such  a 
river  as  the  Mississippi  (  see  Le  Conte  Geology,  p. 
264).  These  long  periods  of  time,  even  if  we 
reduce  them  thirty  or  eighty  millions  of  years  to 
ten  or  through  millenniums,  teach  us  this  lesson 
that  if  God  was  so  long  fitting  up  a  world  for  sin- 
ful man — the  corresponding  fact  of  a  purified 
world  and  an  eternity  in  the  future  for  redeemed 
man,  should  not  seem  strange. 

VEGETABLE   LIFE 

After  the  appearance  of  dry  land,  the  next  step 
was  the  introduction  of  vegetable  life.  The  two 
points  stated  are  (1)  that  God  did  it,  and  (2)  that 
this  life  had  the  power  of  reproducing  itself. 
Inorganic  matter  tends  to  disintegration  and 
decay.  Its  highest  and  most  permanent  form  is 
the  crystal.  But  neither  in  that  form,  nor  in  any 
other,  has  it  any  tendency  to  pass  into  the  life  of 
either  vegetable  or  animal.  Spontaneous  genera- 
tion is  not  the  method,  but  the  seed,  having  life  in 


CREATION  29 

itself  and  like  producing  its  like  through  succeed- 
ing generations.  One  apparent  difficulty  is  a  day 
for  vegetable  life  and  then  after  that  a  dny  for  ani- 
mal life,  whereas  they  were  largely  intermingled 
for  long  periods  of  time.  But  all  that  seems  in- 
tended is  to  specify  the  introduction  of  each  form. 
The  changes  incident  to  each,  follow  in  long  suc- 
cession. It  was  thus  with  light  and  air.  Light  at 
first  was  not  localized  even  in  our  solar  system. 
And  the  air  or  atmosphere  about  our  earth,  under- 
went great  changes  in  purity  and  temperature 
before  man  appeared.  So  far  as  known,  one  of 
the  lowest  or  most  simple  forms  of  vegetable  life  is 
graphite,  a  cryptogamous  fern  which  appears 
among  the  coal  plants  of  St.  John,  N.  B.  (Dana's 
Geology,  p.  157).  We  have  a  right  to  assume 
that  all  the  possibilities  and  variety  of  vegetable 
life  down  to  the  fruits  and  grapes  of  our  own  time, 
were  in  the  mind  of  the  Almighty  when  he  called 
upon  the  earth  to  bring  forth  "herbs  yielding  seed 
and  fruit  trees  bearing  fruit  after  their  kind." 
And  yet  it  would  seem  as  though  there  was  a  spe- 
cial thought  with  regard  to  the  carboniferous 
plants,  from  which  we  obtain  our  supply  of  coal. 
The  abundance  and  richness  of  this  form  of  vege- 
table life  may  be  judged,  when  it  is  estimated  that 
forests  like  those  of  the  valley  of  the  Amazon 
would  produce  only  half  an  inch  of  coal,  while 
there  are  coal  beds  varying  from  four  to  twenty 
feet  in  thickness.  These  plants  were  allied  to  ferns 
and  ground  pines.    And  of  them  some  five  hundred 


30         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

varieties  are  enumerated,  many  of  them  of  great 
size — all  fresh  water  plants,  but  not  like  plants 
now  in  existence. 

Another  notable  fact  about  coal-beds  is  that 
they  are  found  in  the  Arctic  regions.  This  is  true 
also  of  later  forests.  Magnolias,  Hickories,  South- 
ern Cypress  and  Sequoias  now  peculiar  to  Cali- 
fornia, once  grew  in  Greenland.  The  same  also 
may  be  said  of  animal  life.  The  elephant  was  at 
one  time  a  native  of  Great  Britain,  and  his  remains 
with  those  of  other  animals  belonging  to  the  trop- 
ics, have  been  found  in  the  frozen  regions  of  Si- 
beria. 

For  a  long  time — perhaps  until  the  fourth  day 
or  period,  the  atmosphere  about  our  earth  seems 
to  have  been  self-luminous  and  more  heated  than 
now,  with  a  greater  degree  of  moisture,  and  more 
or  less  filled  with  carbonic  acid  and  other  gases 
favorable  to  vegetation  and  to  some  types  of  ani- 
mal life. 

7.  In  the  fourth  day  or  period,  nothing  is  said 
about  any  act  of  creation,  but  only  the  appoint- 
ment or  designation  of  sun  and  moon  to  fulfill  cer- 
tain purposes.  Of  their  existence  before  this, 
nothing  is  said,  nor  of  the  time  when  he  made  the 
stars.  The  cooling  of  the  earth  and  the  dissipa- 
tion of  gases  in  the  atmosphere  was  doubtless  a 
slow  process,  even  after  the  sun  began  to  appear. 
This  state  of  the  atmosphere  accounts  for  coal 
and  forest  trees  of  southern  climes  in  the  north 
more  satisfactorily  than  the  change  in  polar  direc- 
tion, which  it  is  sometimes  thought  took  place  on 


CREATION  31 

the  fourth  (lay.  While  light  jind  heat  resident  in 
the  atmosphere  were  favorable  for  the  extraordi- 
nary growth  of  the  carboniferous  period,  yet  con- 
tinuous light  and  heat  would  not  be  the  most  suit- 
able for  man.  He  needs  the  alternation  of  day  and 
night,  the  change  of  seasons  and  of  climate.  To 
secure  these  ends  the  sun  and  moon  were  ap- 
pointed as  luminaries.  At  the  same  time  there 
was  such  a  clearing  of  the  atmosphere  that  the 
stars  were  visible  also. 

OUR    RELATION    TO    OTHER    WORLDS 

In  following  out  the  history  of  creation  on  this 
world  of  ours,  it  is  not  necessary  to  refer  to  other 
worlds,  yet  as  we  are  a  part  of  the  universe  which 
God  has  made,  there  are  some  thoughts  which 
thrust  themselves  into  notice  as  we  read  the  brief 
statement,  "He  made  the  stars  also." 

The  first  is  the  enlarged  conception  which  we 
get  of  God  as  the  Creator  of  the  heavens,  as  well 
as  of  the  earth.  We  are  part  of  a  whole,  which 
seems  almost  infinite  in  variety  and  extent.  When 
David  looked  at  the  heavens  he  wondered  at  the 
condescension  of  God  to  man.  And  yet  he  only 
saw  some  five  or  six  thousand  stars,  while  the  tele- 
scope brings  to  view  from  forty  to  fifty  millions. 
And  some  authorities  say  over  one  hundred  mil- 
lions. And  yet  their  great  number  is  eclipsed  as 
we  learn  something  of  their  magnitude,  velocity 
and  immense  distances  from  us  and  from  one  an- 
other.    Certainly  no  being  is  so  great  as  he  who 


S2         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

made  and  controls  them.  Omnipotence  and  omni- 
presence gain  new  significance  as  we  think  of  him 
who  "bringeth  out  their  host  by  number  and  call- 
eth  them  by  their  names."* 

Another  thought  is  that  God  has  the  highest 
regard  for  those  attributes  of  character  which 
have  to  do  with  moral  qualities,  rather  than  great- 
ness or  might.  Intellectual  insight  which  foresees 
and  provides  for  wants,  thousands  of  years  before 
needed,  and  marvellous  power  such  as  seen  in  the 
creation  and  government  of  worlds,  are  not  to  be 
compared  with  the  love  and  mercy  exhibited  in  the 
salvation  of  men.  This  view  of  the  divine  charac- 
ter is  to  be  taken  into  account,  when  the  question 
arises,  why  did  God  choose  so  inconspicuous  a 
world  as  ours — a  world  not  visible  to  other  sys- 
tems— for  the  display  of  a  plan  of  salvation  vastly 
more  significant  and  important  than  any  other  act 
that  has  transpired  in  all  the  universe.'*  That  the 
Son  of  God  should  die  for  the  restoration  of  any 
of  his  creatures  on  any  part  of  the  universe 
makes  that  spot,  however  insignificant  otherwise, 
the  moral  center.  Whether  it  be  the  physical  cen- 
ter is  an  entirely  different  question.  Alfred  Wal- 
lace has  sought  to  establish  the  fact  "that  our  sun 
is  one  of  the  central  orbs  of  a  globular  star  cluster 

*  "  In  the  Harvard  Observatory  on  the  Andes  erected  for 
the  purpose  of  photographing  the  stars,  it  is  said  that  a  single 
negative  17  by  14  inches  caught  the  picture  of  400,000  stars 
and  that  it  would  take  two  thousand  plates  to  cover  the  entire 
heavens."  Dr.  F.  E.Clark's  "Continent  of  Opportunity," 
p.  112. 


CREATION  33 

and  that  this  star  cluster  occupies  a  nearly  cen- 
tral position  in  the  great  plane  of  the  milky  way." 
(From  an  article  in  the  "Independent,"  and  after- 
wards published  in  a  book.)  Other  scientists  claim 
that  we  cannot  define  the  bounds  of  the  universe, 
that  there  is  no  proof  that  we  are  in  the  center 
and  that  we  are  drifting  through  space  at  the  rate 
of  a  million  miles  a  day.  Into  this  discussion  we 
need  not  enter,  except  to  say  that  we  assume  that 
God  alone  is  infinite,  and  that  the  universe,  how- 
ever boundless,  is  finite.  Why  God  has  so  exalted 
this  earth  above  other  worlds  in  creating  man  in 
his  own  image  and  then  when  he  had  fallen,  of  re- 
deeming him  through  his  only  Son,  may  remain  a 
mystery  until  we  have  left  the  body  and  have  be- 
come more  familiar  with  the  marvelous  works  of 
God. 

8.  Animal  life,  or  the  work  of  the  fifth  and 
sixth  days.  The  first  thought  is  the  vast  variety 
of  animal  life.  The  waters  swarmed  with  swarms* 
of  living  creatures.  The  air  was  peopled  with 
birds,  and  on  the  land  were  living  creatures  from 
the  animalculae  invisible  except  by  microscope  to 
the  immense  reptiles  of  the  carboniferous  period 
and  the  great  beasts  of  a  later  age.  The  perfec- 
tion of  these  organisms  in  all  their  minute  details 

*  The  wonderfully  prolific  period  of  shell  fish  or  part  of 
these  "swarms  "  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  out  of  the  60,000  to 
70,000  feet  of  rock  on  the  earth's  surface  15,000  to  -20,000  feet 
was  added  by  these  minute  creatures.  Ehrenberg  estimates 
that  a  cubic  inch  of  chalk  contains  more  than  a  million  of  the 
shells  of  Rhizopods.     (Dana's  Geology,  p.  471.) 


34  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

is  no  less  wonderful  than  the  magnitudes  and  ve- 
locities of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

2.  There  were  certain  laws  imposed  on  animal 
life  at  the  beginning  which  are  more  or  less  dis- 
puted in  scientific  circles.  (1)  Life  is  from  God. 
(2)  There  is  a  marked  distinction  between  animal 
and  vegetable  life,  even  in  their  lower  forms.  The 
worm,  though  it  grows  in  the  ground,  is  not  a  root. 
A  grub,  though  it  looks  like  the  leaf  on  which  it  is 
feeding,  or  the  bark  to  which  it  clings,  is  different 
from  either.  (3)  That  the  law  of  succession  and 
transmission  is  that  like  produces  its  like  both  in 
the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms.  (4)  Aside 
from  the  skill  and  purpose  evidenced  in  the  indi- 
vidual animal  in  fashioning  all  the  parts  for  the 
end  for  which  it  was  made,  there  is  a  plan  and 
purpose  in  the  whole  cosmos,  attested  by  the 
words  concluding  each  act  of  creation,  "God  saw 
that  it  was  good."  It  was  good  and  suitable  for 
the  great  end  which  he  had  in  view.  That  there 
was  a  plan  is  evident  from  such  facts  as  the  laying 
up  of  coal  and  metals  long  before  they  were 
needed,  and  from  the  wise  adjustment  of  the  dif- 
ferent parts  to  one  great  whole,  as  the  atmosphere 
to  the  lungs  of  the  animals  breathing  it,  and  the 
amount  of  water  to  the  growth  and  perfection  of 
plants  depending  upon  it.  And  then  there  is  the 
direct  relation  of  all  these  different  parts  to  man 
as  the  supreme  head  and  ruler  here  on  the  earth. 
With  reference  to  the  law  of  like  producing  its 
like,  there  is  and  has  been  from  its  promulgation 


CREATION  35 

six  thousand  years  ago,  ample  evidence  that  it  is 
the  uniform  law  of  nature.  A  modification  of  this 
law,  which  admits  of  variation  and  improvement 
within  certain  limits,  has  been  exalted  into  a  law 
and  is  the  basis  of  the  theory  of  Evolution. 

EVOLUTION 

It  seems  necessary  briefly  to  discuss  this  theory, 
as  it  has  an  important  bearing  upon  modern  in- 
terpretations of  Scripture.  The  word  is  some- 
times used  in  a  very  vague  sense.  Thus  Dr.  Ly- 
man Abbott  in  his  "Problems  of  Life,"  (p.  191) 
says,  "This  is  what  Evolution  means — ordered 
progress,  development  from  poorer  to  richer,  from 
lower  to  higher,  from  less  to  greater — progress." 
In  this  sense  all  theists  are  Evolutionists.  It  re- 
quires but  little  examination  of  God's  methods 
both  in  nature  and  in  grace  to  see  that  he  ad- 
vances in  the  line  of  progress.  The  question  is 
whether  the  progress  is  a  part  of  his  impress  on 
the  material,  or  whether  it  inheres  in  matter. 
True  Evolutionists  adopt  the  latter  view.  Thus 
Le  Conte  says,  "Evolution  is  (1)  continuous,  pro- 
gressive change,  (2)  according  to  certain  laws, 
and  (3)  by  means  of  resident  forces."  ("Evolu- 
tion," p.  8).  Or  more  fully  Mr.  Joel  A.  Allen  in 
his  Preface  to  "The  New  Natural  History"  says, 
"AJl  living  creatures,  including  the  physical  part 
of  man  himself,  may  be  and  probably  are,  the 
lineal  descendants  of  a  single  ancestral  stock  com- 
mon to  them  all ;  and  all  the  diflferences  between 


36         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  different  sorts  of  animals  are  due  entirely  to 
the  familiar  forces  of  nature  which  have  operated 
over  an  enormous  lapse  of  time  and  are  still  oper- 
ating today  in  exactly  the  same  way  that  they 
have  operated  in  the  past."  Prof.  Tyndall  would 
say  that  the  molecular  forces  determine  the  form 
which  the  solar  energy  shall  assume — resulting  in 
the  one  case  in  the  formation  of  a  cabbage,  in  an- 
other in  the  formation  of  an  oak.  The  switching 
of  the  machinery  which  is  governed  by  no  law  or 
purpose  results,  it  may  be,  in  a  grasshopper  or  in 
the  formation  of  a  man. 

It  is  neither  kind  nor  fair  to  charge  a  theory 
with  tendencies  which  its  advocates  deny.  Le 
Conte,  for  instance,  strongly  maintains  the  imma- 
nence of  God  in  all  things — "through  him  all 
things  exist  and  without  him  there  would  be  and 
could  be  nothing"  ("Evolution,"  p.  300). 
And  yet  he  clothes  matter  with  an  inherent  force 
which  makes  it  capable  of  originating  a  new  form 
of  life.  It  may  take  thousands  of  years  to  do  it 
and  yet  it  does  it  all  the  same.  How  this  differs 
from  Prof.  Haeckel's  frank  avowal  of  spontaneous 
generation  it  is  difficult  to  say.  But  if  materialism 
is  not  accepted  in  its  full  form,  there  is  the  claim 
that  inherent  force  is  the  determining  cause  in 
each  successive  generation.  Says  Le  Conte,  "Or- 
ganic forms  follow  one  another  in  a  continuous 
chain,  each  derived  from  a  preceding,  and  giving 
origin  to  a  succeeding.  This  is  a  law  of  deriva- 
tion, and  we  might  call  it  a    law    of    causation" 


CREATION  37 

("Evolution,"  p.  65).  This  might  result  in  any 
haphazard  development,  as  a  cabbage  or  a  man, 
or  it  might  be  claimed  that  the  modification  might 
go  on  improving  on  self-constituted  lines.  That 
is,  if  the  final  result  of  the  thought  of  matter  (if 
such  a  thing  is  conceivable)  was  man,  then  when 
bulk  was  in  evidence  as  in  the  Reptilian  period, 
we  might  have  had  a  man  of  huge  proportions — a 
great  Saurian  with  snake-like  head  and  a  body  as 
big  as  a  trolley  car,  but  certainly  not  very  elegant 
in  appearance.  Or  when  at  the  time  of  the  great 
beasts  of  the  pre-glacial  period,  a  tangent  flying 
off  towards  man  would  have  given  us  something 
like  the  cave  lions,  bear  or  hyenas  with  their  car- 
niverous  dispositions.  But  since,  according  to 
evolution,  man  has  developed  from  the  ape,  and  he 
is  what  he  is,  may  we  not  properly  expect  a  still 
higher  and  more  beautiful  animal  evolved  from  the 
birds.''  Some  scientist  has  very  properly  sug- 
gested this  as  a  future  possibility — certainly  a 
possibility  if  it  is  to  be  decided  by  material  forms. 
The  difficulty  then  with  the  hypothesis  of  Evo- 
lution is,  (1)  its  tendency  towards  materialism. 
(2)  When  this  is  denied,  it  gives  to  matter  the 
attributes  of  divinity — if  the  inherent  force  can 
look  forward  to  a  grand  plan  such  as  has  been 
developed  in  the  past  from  Chaos  to  Cosmos.  (3) 
It  disturbs  the  uniformity  of  nature,  which  is  that 
like  produces  its  like.  (4)  It  takes  a  modification 
of  that  law,  which  gives  room  for  variation  and 
improvement  and  makes  it  the  central  law.     And 


38  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

yet  discarding  as  we  must  the  theory  of  Evolution 
as  stated  by  its  advocates,  there  are  certain  truths 
which  the  discussion  has  called  out  that  are  to  be 
recognized  as:  (1)  God  has  clothed  organic  forms 
with  the  power  of  reproduction.  It  is  not  a  new 
creation,  every  time  a  seed  produces  its  like,  or  an 
egg  the  offspring  of  the  parent;  but  a  wonderful 
potency  of  perpetuating  life  and  the  peculiarities 
of  one  generation  down  to  the  next.  (2)  With 
the  like  producing  its  like,  the  variation  is  also 
perpetuated.  In  this  way  improvements  are  made 
on  the  original  stock  in  animal  and  vegetable,  and 
especially  in  this  way  are  the  advances  in  civiliza- 
tion perpetuated.  This  may  well  be  termed  pro- 
gressive development.  It  is  this  which  has  given 
to  the  theory  of  evolution  its  force  and  currency 
in  the  popular  mind.  It  is  what  many  mean  when 
they  say  God  works  through  evolution.  If  by  that 
is  meant  a  force  inherent  in  matter,  then  we  deny. 
But  if  the  directing  thought  is  God's  and  not  mat- 
ter, then  we  affirm.  But  we  must  take  exception 
to  language  that  is  misleading.  It  is  a  contradic- 
tion to  say  God  directs,  when  matter  by  inherent 
force  directs  itself.  The  organic  forms  of  matter 
have  a  relation  to  God  very  similar  to  that  occu- 
pied by  angelic  beings.     They  do  his  bidding. 


CHAPTER   II 
THE  CREATION  OF  MAN 

Before  taking  up  the  main  topic  of  this  chapter 
there  are  two  preliminary  subjects  which  it  is 
necessary  briefly  to  consider.  One  is  that  of 
God's  Sabbath,  and  second,  the  documentary 
theory. 

god's  sabbath 

1.  After  the  brief  account  in  the  first  chapter 
of  the  creation  of  man  (1:26-31),  it  is  said, 
(II.  V.  2),  "and  on  the  seventh  day  God  finished 
his  work  which  he  had  made  .  .  .  and  God  blessed 
the  seventh  day  and  hallowed  it ;  because  that  in  it 
he  rested  from  all  his  work  which  God  had  created 
and  made."  The  question  arises,  was  this  seventh 
day  like  the  preceding  six.''  if  so,  it  would  cover 
a  long  period  of  time.  In  favor  of  this  is  the  lack 
of  the  formula,  "the  evening  and  the  morning  were 
the  seventh  day."  It  is  at  least  open  to  us,  who 
are  living,  as  we  think,  in  this  seventh  day,  to 
speak  of  it  as  the  day  of  redemption.  After  the 
creation  of  man  God  ceased  creative  work.  He 
had  reached  the  highest  point  on  this  earth,  and 
the  point  towards  which  all  preceding  steps  led. 
And  now  he  looks  at  man  in  a  new  and  higher  as- 
pect. This  is  God's  Sabbath — the  day  which  he  is 
hallowing  until  the  work  of  redemption  is  com- 
plete. We  would  speak  of  the  Old  Dispensation 
39 


40  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

as  the  evening,  and  the  New,  with  Christ's  coming, 
as  the  morning.  And  if  so,  we  anticipate  the 
change  from  the  seventh  as  rest  after  six  days' 
labor  to  the  first  of  the  week,  and  hallowing  work 
by  making  redemption  the  first  and  greatest  of 
all  works.  This  makes  God's  Sabbath  of  the  ages 
grandly  typical  of  the  weekly  human  Sabbath 
which  he  instituted  at  the  beginning  long  before 
its  promulgation  on  Sinai.  That  the  human 
writer  should  have  understood  the  significance  of 
what  he  was  putting  down  is  not  to  be  expected. 
It  is  one  of  those  indications  like  the  Spirit  of 
God  brooding  upon  the  waters  that  indicates  di- 
vine as  well  as  human  authorship.  The  Bible,  with 
its  many  authors,  is  a  unit — a  unit  because  prac- 
tically it  has  only  one  author.  Like  the  works  of 
God  they  are  composed  of  individuals,  but  they 
make  one  great  whole.  The  unity  of  this  book 
and  its  divine  authorship  will  appear  more  plainly 
as  we  go  on. 

THE   DOCUMENTARY   THEORY 

2.  Man  having  been  thus  created  and  placed 
in  his  high  position,  it  was  but  natural  that  the 
writer,  having  gone  over  the  works  of  creation, 
should  recapitulate  and  enlarge  upon  this  part  of 
his  work,  and  hence  as  we  look  upon  it,  are  given 
the  details  in  the  second  chapter,  fourth  verse  and 
following.  The  introduction  of  the  term  Jehovah 
(Lord  God,  auth.  ver.)  has  puzzled  many  com- 
mentators and  led  to  the  theory  of  different  docu- 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  41 

ments  in  the  composition  of  Genesis.  In  the  first 
chapter  the  term  God  alone  is  used,  while  in  chap- 
ter 2,  Jehovah  God  is  the  term.  The  reason  for 
this  might  very  properly  be  sought  in  the  narra- 
tive. In  the  first  chapter,  the  usual  term  God,  as 
God  of  nature,  is  sufficient,  but  he  wishes  to  con- 
nect his  special  work,  the  creation  of  mauj  with 
God  in  his  covenant  relation,  or  Jehovah  as  the 
God  of  his  people.  (Ex.  3:  13).  God  that  made 
man  in  his  own  image  is  to  redeem  him.  And  so 
as  the  God  of  redemption  he  uses  in  the  second 
chapter  the  term,  Jehovah  God.  Whether  this 
was  the  only  or  the  main  reason  for  the  change  of 
term  in  the  second  chapter,  can  hardly  be  affirmed 
very  positively,  as  no  reason  for  the  change  is 
given  by  the  writer,  but  it  seems  as  good  a  reason 
as  the  one  invented  in  these  days  that  he  was  using 
another  document.  Whether  the  writer  used  other 
documents  or  not,  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence, 
since  by  using  them  he  made  them  his  own.  From 
what  sources  the  Evangelist  Luke  obtained  his  in- 
formation about  the  birth  and  early  days  of  Jesus 
we  know  not.  He  is  responsible  for  their  correct- 
ness. And  so  Moses,  or  whoever  wrote  Genesis  is 
responsible  for  the  book  as  it  stands.  If  there  are 
any  disagreements  they  are  his,  or  the  disagree- 
ments of  the  book,  or  if,  as  we  maintain,  these 
books  were  inspired,  they  are  divine  disagree- 
ments. There  is  no  need  of  mystifying  a  discus- 
sion which  ought  to  be  brief  and  simple,  and  that 
is,  is  the  Bible  inspired.'*     If  so,  the  writers  were 


42  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

kept  from  fundamental  error.  Verbal  inspiration 
makes  the  writers  simply  amanuenses  or  type- 
writers dictated  to,  which  is  not  God's  way  of 
using  men.  He  uses  men  as  men,  as  he  did  Proph- 
ets and  Apostles,  with  all  their  humanities.  How 
much  of  error  may  have  been  allowed  to  creep  in 
can  be  determined  by  criticism,  which  can  and 
ought  to  be  as  sharp  and  only  as  sharp  as  truth 
will  allow.  Certainly  there  is  no  call  to  hide  any 
disagreements  by  old  documents  for  which  the 
writer  was  not  responsible.  With  reference  to  the 
vast  array  of  learning  involved  in  this  discussion 
the  following  conclusions  have  been  reached.  (1) 
That  no  substantial  agreement  has  been  reached 
as  to  results.  (2)  That  the  traditional  view  of 
the  authorship  of  most  of  the  books  of  the  Bible 
is  accompanied  with  the  fewest  difficulties  as  to 
facts  and  doctrines.  (3)  That  it  was  the  evident 
intention  of  the  Author  of  Revelation  to  make  a 
book  fairly  intelligible  to  the  ordinary  mind  and 
not  one  dependent  on  the  dictum  of  scholars,  whose 
learning  is  more  of  the  letter  than  of  the  Spirit. 

CREATION  OF  MAN 

3.  With  reference  to  the  creation  of  man,  three 
things  are  stated  very  explicitly  in  the  narrative 
in  Genesis.  (1)  That  it  was  the  last  and  crown- 
ing work  of  creation.  After  that  God  rested,  or 
ceased  to  make  any  new  forms  of  life.  When  the 
Flood  was  sent,  new  forms  were  not  created  to 
take  the  place  of  those  destroyed.     (2)  That  man 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  43 

differed  in  his  creation  from  the  animals  in  being 
made  in  the  image  of  God.  (3)  Tliat  all  mankind 
descended  from  a  single  pair. 

It  is  well  to  take  up  these  points  in  order,  as 
this  is  the  great  battleground  between  science  and 
revelation,  and  where  science  has  so  far  claimed 
the  victory  that  not  a  few  Biblical  conunentators 
are  found  supporting  its  views.  Let  us  sec  how 
the  matter  stands.  And  first  as  to  the  Antiquity 
of  man.  It  is  admitted  by  Geologists  that  pre- 
historic remains  of  bones  closely  resembling  the 
human  have  been  found  in  caves  with  those  of  ex- 
tinct animals.  Skeletons  have  been  found,  one  of 
a  man  six  feet  high,  and  others  shorter.  These 
skeletons  showed  "fair  average  human  skulls,"  ac- 
cording to  Huxley.  Others  had  marks  of  in- 
feriority. (Dana's  Geology,  p.  574).  This  in- 
feriority of  structure  is  generally  acknowledged 
by  Naturalists,  and  if  we  follow  the  theory  of 
Evolutionists,  man's  precursor  would  necessarily 
be  of  a  low  type.  The  Pithican  Homopus  Erectus 
or  ape-like  man,  whose  skull  was  found  in  Java 
in  1894,  and  who  was  supposed  by  many  to  fur- 
nish the  missing  link  between  man  and  the  ape,  was 
said  to  have  had  a  brain  capacity  half  way  be- 
tween the  lowest  man  and  the  highest  known  type 
of  ape.  Besides  skeletons,  stone  implements, 
charcoal  and  relics  of  fire  and  bone,  drawings  of 
animals  have  been  discovered,  usually  in  caves 
with  the  bones  of  fierce  animals  now  extinct,  such 
as  the  cave  bear,  cave  hyena,  cave  lions,  and  the 


44  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

old  elephant,  which  was  one-third  larger  than  the 
elephant  of  our  own  time.  These  remains  belong 
to  the  Glacial  period,  which  some  think  lasted 
twenty-five  thousand  years,  and  the  close  of  which 
was,  say,  twelve  thousand  years  ago.  The  conclu- 
sion generally  adopted  as  the  result  of  these  sci- 
entific investigations  is  expressed  in  a  book,  quite 
largely  used  in  schools  (Redway  &  Hinman's  Na- 
tional Advanced  Geography,  p.  34),  "At  one 
time  many  thousands  of  years  ago  all  or  nearly 
all  people  were  more  ignorant  than  the  most  sav- 
age tribes  now  living.  They  probably  did  not 
know  how  to  make  many  things,  but  lived  in  caves, 
wore  no  clothing,  and  ate  only  fruits,  nuts,  roots 
and  such  insects  as  they  could  catch,  and  such 
small  animals  as  they  could  kill  with  clubs  and 
stones.  At  last  some  one  may  have  learned  how 
to  tie  a  harp  stone  on  the  end  of  a  stick  and  thus 
make  a  spear  with  which  to  spear  fish  or  kill  ani- 
mals. Then  some  one  may  have  learned  that 
sticks  rubbed  together  will  get  hot  and  at  last 
burn,  thus  starting  a  fire." 

The  question  arises,  is  this  conclusion  that  the 
so-called  Paliolithic  or  Neolithic  man  living  in 
caves — the  companion  of  extinct  carniverous  ani- 
mals, was  our  ancestor,  a  correct  one  or  not.?  Our 
answer  is  that  however  near  these  animals  approxi- 
mated to  the  human  in  their  physical  structure, 
they  were  in  no  sense  the  being  which  God  made 
in  his  own  image,  and  from  whom  we  are  de- 
scended.    ( 1 )  The  first  argument  is  that  the  world 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  45 

was  not  ready  for  man  at  the  time  it  is  affirmed 
that  he  appeared.  In  the  Biblical  narrative  one 
is  impressed  with  the  thought  that  the  consumma- 
tion and  crown  of  the  work  of  creation  is  man.  In 
the  work  of  the  six  days  God  spoke  and  it  was 
done,  but  when  the  creation  of  man  is  reached 
there  is  deliberation  and  consultation.  And  when 
it  goes  forward  it  is  in  the  exaltation  of  the  ma- 
terial form  so  that  it  contains  as  in  a  temple  the 
likeness  of  the  great  God,  the  supreme  Creator 
of  all  things.  The  spiritual  in  its  highest  form 
is  united  to  the  material,  and  that  makes  humanity 
and  then  the  work  of  creation  ceases.  And  as  we 
examine  the  work  of  creation  from  the  scientific 
standpoint,  we  are  brought  to  the  same  conclusion, 
the  exaltation  of  man.  It  is  laying  up  in  store- 
houses for  his  use  and  approaching  slowly  through 
different  grades  of  vertebrates,  until  the  apex  of 
the  Pyramid  is  reached  in  the  human,  the  highest 
of  animals.  But  the  time  for  that  consummation 
had  not  been  reached  in  the  Glacial  period. 

In  geological  formula  this  was  the  Tertiary 
period,  followed  by  the  Post  Tertiary  or  Quater- 
nary period.  Dana  says  the  Tertiary  was  the  age 
of  mammals  and  the  Quaternary  the  age  of  man 
(Geology,  p.  141).  At  the  beginning  of  the  lat- 
ter the  gigantic  carniverous  animals  passed  away 
with  the  cold  of  the  Glacial  period,  and  in  their 
place  came  such  animals  as  the  stag  family  and 
the  ox,  or  the  herbivorous  instead  of  the  carniver- 
ous (Geology,  p.  589).     It  was  the  period  too  of 


46  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

continued  changes  and  increase  in  the  land  sur- 
face of  the  globe  (lb.  p.  588),  and  of  completed 
river  systems,  such  as  the  Amazon,  Mississippi, 
Ganges,  etc.  (p.  587)  ;  of  the  gradual  purification 
of  the  atmosphere  (p.  593),  and  of  the  waters 
of  the  ocean  (p.  593).  In  fact  it  was  the  age  for 
perfecting  and  finishing  the  previous  acts  of  crea- 
tion. It  was  the  house  being  furnished  and  made 
ready  for  its  inhabitant.  In  the  Biblical  narra- 
tive this  completeness  of  preparation  is  present. 
Just  as  afterwards  the  Tabernacle  and  Temple 
were  completed  before  the  Shekinah  came  to  fill 
with  its  glory  the  Holy  Place.  And  if  we  rightly 
read  Geology  there  was  no  readiness  for  man's  ap- 
pearance until  the  close  of  the  Glacial  period. 
Prof.  Winchell  says  that  it  has  been  nearly  unani- 
mously agreed  that  post  glacial  time  does  not  ex- 
ceed ten  thousand  years,  and  probably  amounts  to 
about  eight  thousand  years.  (See  note  in  Dr. 
Orr's  "God's  Image  in  Man,"  p.  306).  There  is 
no  intention  of  using  this  argument  of  the  unpre- 
paredness  of  the  earth  as  absolute  proof  that  man 
has  not  existed  the  many  milleniums  that  have  been 
claimed,  but  it  is  some  satisfaction  to  find  that 
Geology  confirms  the  historical  view  and  places 
the  creation  of  man  at  a  period  where  it  seems  to 
properly  belong. 

2.  A  second  argument  is  that  man,  with  his 
spiritual  nature  and  capacities,  could  only  have 
been  made  by  a  direct  creative  act  of  God.  What 
is  man?     He  has  been  described  as  the  sum  total 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  47 

of  animals.  The  vertebrate  type  which  exists  in 
the  fisli,  which  is  more  fully  devclDped  in  the  ani- 
mal with  legs  for  locomotion,  and  more  or  less  of 
brain  power  finds  its  perfection  in  the  erect  form 
of  man,  with  mind  to  carry  out  his  wishes  and  to 
direct  his  hands  and  feet  to  go  and  do  as  he 
pleases.  As  an  animal  he  is  the  highest  and  best 
fitted  to  govern  of  all  that  dwell  on  the  earth.  But 
he  is  not  a  mere  animal.  You  only  touch  the  bor- 
der of  his  humanity  when  you  say  he  is  the  highest 
of  animals.  Three  characteristics  might  be  men- 
tioned which  distinguish  him  from  the  mere  animal. 
We  might  speak  of  others,  which  are  like  but- 
tresses to  the  bridge  which  spans  the  chasm  be- 
tween our  two  natures— speech  and  reason  seem 
distinctly  human,  but  the  one  is  made  with  vocal 
organs ;  and  animals,  as  the}'  approach  man  and 
seem  made  for  his  benefit,  have  in  some  measure 
the  reasoning  faculty.  We  pass,  therefore,  to 
these  features,  which  belong  distinctly  to  the  spir- 
itual and  not  to  the  physical  part  of  our  nature. 
First  man  is  a  moral  being;  second  a  religious,  and 
third  an  immortal  being.  First,  he  is  gifted  with 
a  moral  sense.  He  approves  the  right  whether  he 
does  it  or  not.  An  animal  feels  the  obligation  of 
instinct,  but  the  ought  that  represents  duty  from 
a  moral  standpoint  he  fails  to  see.  This  moral 
faculty  or  conscience  represents  not  only  clearer 
discernment  or  intellectual  power,  but  a  distinct 
individuality  or  will  power,  coupled  with  a  sense 
of  moral   obligation.      Nature   is   more   or  less   a 


48         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

machine  working  in  grooves  and  by  a  power  out- 
side of  itself.  In  plant  life  there  is  the  beginning 
of  individuality,  which  is  more  manifest  in  the  ani- 
mal, as  it  shows  wishes  or  desires  of  its  own.  But 
in  man,  whose  will  is  operated  upon  by  motives, 
individual  responsibility  assumes  a  higher  form. 
Another  nature — we  call  it  the  spiritual — comes 
in  and  dominates  the  physical.  He  who  allows  the 
lower  nature  to  rule  is  animal  in  his  tastes  and 
appetites.  If  governed  by  the  higher,  by  his  moral 
nature  or  conscience,  he  is  spiritual. 

This  moral  or  spiritual  nature  is  still  fur- 
ther emphasized  when  we  say  man  is  a  religious 
being.  There  is  in  him  a  tendency  to  worship  and 
hold  fellowship  with  God.  If  he  knows  not  the 
true  he  seeks  the  false.  In  the  savage  this  may 
show  itself  in  the  desire  to  avert  evil.  He  feels  de- 
pendent upon  some  higher  being  and  tries  to  pro- 
pitiate his  favor  in  crude  or  superstitious  ways. 
But  the  religious  nature  in  its  natural  normal 
state  hungers  after  God,  as  the  bird  for  its  nest, 
or  the  hart  for  the  water  brooks.  The  spiritual 
in  man  can  only  be  satisfied  by  him  who  made  the 
spirit,  and  so  it  cries  out,  "My  soul  thirsteth  for 
God,  for  the  living  God." 

The  same  may  be  said  about  the  longing 
for  immortality.  It  shows  itself  even  when  most 
crushed  out,  in  care  for  the  dead,  in  providing  for 
their  spirits  in  the  happy  hunting  ground;  but  in 
the  soul  responsive  to  its  nobler  instincts  the 
thought  is,  "I  will  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  thy 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  49 

likeness."  Likeness  to  God  is  certainly  not  like- 
ness to  the  animal  or  the  material.  That  dies,  as 
all  things  earthly  die.  But  the  spiritual  lives,  even 
when  suffering  punishment  that  is  called  death. 
For  a  spirit  once  created  never  becomes  non-ex- 
istent. 

We  have  then  in  man  a  nature,  which  is  not 
merely  above  all  animals,  but  which  is  distinct 
from  all  that  can  be  developed  out  of  material 
forms.  It  is  not  an  evolution,  but  a  gift  to  the 
already  highly  developed  animal  of  something 
higher,  in  the  bestowment  of  another  nature.  Oth- 
erwise we  destroy  the  spiritual  and  make  man  only 
material  without  any  link  to  bind  him  to  God  and 
the  spirit  world.  This  seems  to  be  the  drift  of 
conmientators  who,  like  Canon  Driver,  follow  the 
evolutionary  theory.  He  holds  very  positively  to 
the  theological  fact  of  the  relation  of  God  to  the 
world,  but  is  just  as  positive  about  the  progress 
of  man  from  anthropoid  ancestors.  He  defines 
the  image  of  God  as  the  gift  of  self-conscious  rea- 
son (p.  15,  "Commentary  on  Genesis")  and 
argues  against  the  high  intellectual  capacities  of 
our  first  parents,  as  Miltonic  rather  than  Biblical 
(p.  56).  It  is  contrary,  he  says,  to  progress,  to 
the  gradual  advance  from  lower  to  higher,  from 
the  less  perfect  to  the  more  perfect  which  is 
stamped  upon  the  entire  range  of  organic  nature, 
(p.  56).  But  surely  if  God  is  the  Creator  he  can 
control  and  modify  the  work  of  his  own  hands. 
He  can  proceed  by  gradual  advance  or  by  leaps 


50         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

and  bounds,  if  the  latter  seem  necessary.  This  he 
has  abundantly  indicated,  not  only  by  the  intro- 
duction of  vegetable  and  animal  life  in  creation, 
but  the  same  thing  is  manifested  more  or  less  now. 
There  are  not  only  constant  forces  acting  like 
water  in  the  erosion  of  river  channels,  but  erup- 
tive-forces sudden  and  terrific,  as  the  earthquake. 
It  is  hard  to  tell  which  has  caused  the  greatest 
changes  on  our  globe — the  eruptive  or  the  erosive. 
And  then  the  gift  of  self-consciousness  is  no  gift 
at  all,  but  simply  the  result  of  other  endowments. 
The  main  thing  was  the  gift  of  a  spiritual  nature 
involving  reason,  individuality  and  responsibility. 
Possessing  these  he  would  become  conscious  of 
their  existence.  We  are  not  to  hide  the  gift  by 
specifying  only  one  of  its  results. 

3.  Another  argument  is  drawn  from  our  con- 
dition since  the  Fall.  It  is  readily  seen  that  our 
spiritual  nature  is  not  now  in  the  image  of  God 
as  it  came  perfect  from  his  hands.  We  are  like  a 
broken  statue  with  the  lineaments  blurred,  but  not 
obliterated.  There  is  in  man  an  approval  of  that 
which  is  good,  but  a  reluctance  to  perform — a 
struggle  between  right  understanding  and  a  per- 
verse will ;  immortal,  and  yet  forgetting  his  destiny 
in  the  present,  god-like  and  yet  often  basely  ani- 
mal; capable  of  and  often  rising  to  the  highest 
civilization,  and  yet  sinking  again  to  barbarism. 
This  is  easily  explained  by  the  narrative  in  Gen- 
esis. He  was  made  upright,  but  fell  from  the  es- 
tate in  which  he  was  created,  by  sinning  against 


THE  CREATION  OF  MAN  51 

God.  Adam's  nature  becaine  corrupt,  and  his  dt- 
scondants  inherited  his  corrupt  nature.  Accord- 
ing to  evolution,  man  was  imperfect  before  Adam 
and  imperfect  since.  The  Fall  came  upon  him, 
says  Driver,  "when  he  was  innnature  in  intellect 
and  culture"  (Gen.,  p.  57).  We  at  once  feel 
that  the  Fall,  which  was  really  a  test  of  man's  obe- 
dience and  a  punishment  for  disobedience,  came 
upon  him  when  he  was  unprepared  to  meet  it. 
This  is  usually  met  by  talking  about  the  Fall  as  if 
it  were  a  step  in  man's  upward  progress  and 
development. 

The  claim  for  the  scriptural  narrative,  there- 
fore, is,  (1)  That  it  is  the  only  adequate  explana- 
tion for  the  moral,  religious  and  immortal  nature 
which  exists  in  man.  (2)  That  the  Fall  or  cor- 
rupt tendency  in  man  now,  can  only  be  explained 
by  the  same  authority  which  states  his  original 
condition  and  the  departure  from  it.  (3)  Pro- 
gressive development  in  the  race,  especially  in  its 
corrupt  state,  is  due,  not  to  innate  forces  in  man, 
but  to  divine  grace  and  power  working  in  and 
with  Revelation,  and  especially  in  the  gift  of  his 
Son. 

From  our  standpoint  we  are  obliged  to  say  that 
nothing  more  delusive  and  subversive  of  Christi- 
anity can  be  imagined  than  this  theory  which 
starts  with  the  evolution  of  man  from  anthropoid 
ancestors,  or  the  so-called  Peliolithic  and  Nico- 
lithic  man  in  the  time  of  the  Glacial  period.  The 
same   force   carries  him  through  the   stone,   iron 


62         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

and  bronze  ages,  down  to  Babylonian  and  Egyp- 
tian civilizations.  It  makes  a  myth  of  the  Fall 
and  of  innocence  and  intelligence  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden.  It  develops  monogamy  out  of  polygamy, 
civilization  out  of  savagery  and  barbarism,  and 
reaches  its  haven  of  the  perfect  man  without 
miracle,  or  a  divine  Christ,  or  the  Holy  Spirit. 
What  a  sin  against  the  religious  nature  of  man, 
which  so  needs  help  and  which  has  the  promise  of 
it  so  abundantly  given  in  the  Word  of  God.  What 
a  sin  against  him  who  has  given  us  that  nature 
and  so  exalted  us  above  the  beasts  that  perish,  by 
linking  us  to  himself,  and  to  another  and  better 
life  than  this. 

[Note.  It  might  have  seemed  proper  that  reference  should 
have  been  made  to  Davis'  work  on  the  Image  of  God  in  man. 
He  goes  over  the  same  ground  in  part  as  the  above,  showing 
the  inadequacy  of  Evolution  to  account  for  man's  higher  and 
spiritual  nature.  But  the  main  part  of  the  argument  had  been 
written  before  I  learned  of  the  publication  of  his  work.] 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  UNITY  OF  MANKIND 

Those  who  hold  to  the  statement  that  Adam  was 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  hold  also  to  the  view 
that  Eve  was  the  mother  of  all  living.  But  if  man 
descended  from  anthropoid  ancestors,  he  was 
probably  made  in  groups  like  other  animals.  Thus 
Driver  says,  "All  mankind  are  not  descended  from 
a  single  pair,  but  arose  independently  in  different 
centers  of  the  globe,"  and  so  he  says,  "The  real 
unity  of  the  race  consists  not  in  unity  of  blood, 
but  in  unity  of  mental  constitution  and  of  moral 
and  spiritual  capacities."  "Each  race,"  he  adds, 
"independently  passed  through  similar  moral  ex- 
periences, and  each  similarly  underwent  a  'fall.'  " 
("Commentary  on  Genesis,"  p.  57).  Three  fund- 
amental points  are  here  involved:  First,  The  fath- 
erhood of  God;  Second,  The  brotherhood  of  man, 
and  Third,  The  marriage  relation,  as  between  one 
man  and  one  woman.  The  first  we  have  already 
considered  in  the  last  chapter,  in  the  fact  that  God 
made  man  in  his  own  image.  The  brotherhood  of 
man.  Driver  holds  only  in  a  modified  form.  We 
are  like  birds  of  the  same  feather,  though  our 
pedigree  does  not  go  back  to  the  same  ancestor. 
We  will  take  this  up  a  little  later  on.  At  present 
it  is  to  be  noticed  that  there  is  an  inherent  im- 
probability that  different  races  possessed  with  in- 
dependent wills,  should  have  met  the  Fall  in  the 
63 


54  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

same  way.  Why  did  not  some  escape,  as  was  the 
case  with  the  angels,  when  put  to  a  similar  test 
of  obedience? 

1.       MARRIAGE 

In  discussing  the  unity  of  the  race  it  is 
necessary  to  say  a  word  about  marriage.  In  read- 
ing the  account  we  see  the  difference  between  man's 
creation  and  that  of  animals.  Not  only  did  God 
decide  to  make  man  in  his  own  image,  but  he  only 
makes  at  first  a  single  individual,  whereas  in  ani- 
mal life,  the  "waters  swarmed  with  swarms  of  liv- 
ing creatures."  And  in  providing  a  suitable  com- 
panion for  man,  none  could  be  found  in  the  animal 
world — none  among  the  descendants  of  his  so- 
called  Anthropoid  ancestors,  and  so  out  of  man 
he  made  woman.  And  then  he  pronounces  on  this 
new  pair  the  great  law  of  marriage,  "Therefore 
shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother  and 
shall  cleave  unto  his  wife;  and  they  shall  be  one 
flesh."  Here  was  a  distinct  planning  and  looking 
forward  to  what  was  best  for  him  and  for  human 
society  as  long  as  he  existed  on  the  earth.  And 
then  is  it  too  much  to  say  that  he  was  planning  for 
the  best  good  of  man  in  his  brotherly  and  sympa- 
thetic relations  to  his  fellow  man?  He  knew 
what  distinctions  would  arise  in  society — how  civi- 
lization, wealth  and  station  would  make  barriers  in 
contrast  with  ignorance,  vice  and  barbarism,  and 
so  he  removed  the  greatest  barrier  by  making  all 
men  brethren.     We  are  of  one  blood — have  one 


THE  UNITY  OF  MANKIND  55 

Father,  one  Saviour,  one  Heaven,  is  the  message 
to  our  common  humanity.  And  nothing  so  stirs 
our  sympathy  for  the  fallen  and  degraded,  as  this 
fact  that  we  are  brethren,  capable  of  being  ele- 
vated and  united  in  the  glorious  position  of  Sons 
of  God.  That  God  looked  forward  to  and  planned 
all  this  in  the  creation  and  marriage  of  our  first 
parents,  is  what  the  Bible  would  have  us  believe. 
That  human  nature  in  its  ignorance  and  sin  should 
have  evolved  marriage  in  the  divine  sense  and 
meaning,  out  of  promiscuous  co-habitation  or 
polygamy  is  not  conceivable.  History  plainly 
teaches  that  there  has  been  no  such  evolutionary 
tendency  in  any  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The 
difficulty  is  in  keeping  depraved  human  nature  up 
to  the  Biblical  standard.  It  is  only  done  by  the 
authority  of  God,  looking,  of  course,  to  man's 
best  good  individually  and  socially. 

2.        UNITY    OF    THE   RACE 

Let  us  proceed  therefore  with  the  arguments 
which  we  think  go  to  establish  the  unity  of  the 
race  from  a  scientific  standpoint.  It  is  well  to  see 
that  in  taking  the  Bible  as  it  is,  we  are  not  teach- 
ing antiquated  science,  but  truth  which  the  best 
investigation  has  proved  to  be  correct.  We  need 
also  to  dissipate  the  assumption  of  superioritv 
which  as  a  part  of  egoism  we  are  disposed  to 
claim  for  the  Caucasian  race.  Cultivation  and 
training  ought  to  do  for  other  races  all  that  thev 
have  done  for  us. 


56  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

There  are  two  theories  about  race  distinctions. 
One  theory  would  make  these  distinctions  funda- 
mental and  radical,  involving  different  race-cen- 
ters or  origins  of  man — say  five  or  seven.  The 
other  theory  is  that  in  some  remote  past,  the  pre- 
Adamite  race  started  from  a  given  center — say 
Lemuria  off  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  and  became 
diversified  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  as  we  now  see 
them. 

The  argument  for  race  distinctions  is  founded 
for  the  most  part  on  external  differences,  such  as 
color  of  the  skin,  fiber  of  the  hair,  projection 
of  face  and  lips  beyond  the  line  of  the  forehead 
and  alleged  differences  in  brain  development.  But 
these  differ  in  the  same  race,  as  the  Indian  in 
color,  from  the  almost  black  on  the  shores  of  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata  to  the  almost  white  Mandans  of 
the  upper  Missouri.  The  shaft  of  the  hair  is 
found  to  differ  in  the  same  individual  as  well  as 
in  different  races.  And  within  the  limits  of  mod- 
ern history  the  Lapps,  Finns  and  Maygars  all 
descending  from  a  common  stock,  exhibit  the  most 
marked  differences  in  skull  and  general  conforma- 
tion— the  Maygars  being  tall  and  well  made  and 
the  Lapps  short  and  uncouth  ("Unity  of  Man- 
kind" by  Dr.  Cabell,  p.  96).  It  is  to  be  remarked 
also  that  these  differences  are  not  so  great  as  in 
some  animals — the  dog,  for  example.  The  fol- 
lowing facts,  therefore,  with  respect  to  the  so- 
called  different  races  can  be  clearly  proved. 

First.    They  are  anatomically  the  same.     There 


THE  UNITY  OF  MANKIND  57 

is  the  same  number  and  variety  of  bones,  the  same 
temperature  of  blood,  the  same  formation  of  skin. 
There  is  also  the  same  period  of  arriving  at  the 
full  development  of  the  physical  powers,  the  aver- 
age duration  of  life,  the  tendency  to  disease  and 
similarity  of  diseases.  Second.  Beyond  this  the 
mental  and  moral  constitution  are  the  same.  We 
expect  of  course  variation  between  the  mental 
caliber  of  a  civilized  European  and  a  Hottentot, 
which  in  generations  would  show  itself  in  cranial 
development;  but  fundamentally  their  natures  are 
the  same.  Allowing  for  civilization  and  environ- 
ment, memory,  the  reasoning  faculties,  the  distinc- 
tion between  right  and  wrong,  the  disposition  to 
worship,  the  consciousness  of  sin,  the  need  of 
forgiveness  are  all  alike  in  every  race.  This  agrees 
with  the  declaration  of  Paul  as  he  stood  in  the 
center  of  the  world's  civilization  and  declared  that 
God  "hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men" 
(Acts  17:26). 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN  AND  THE  FALL 

GENESIS,    CHAPTERS    2   AND   3 

In  continuing  the  account  of  man's  creation  the 
narrative  describes  his  abode — then  the  creation 
of  woman  and  the  law  of  marriage  between  one 
man  and  one  woman.  After  that  we  have  the  ac- 
count of  the  Fall  and  the  Expulsion  from  Para- 
dise. The  man  thought  with  reference  to  the 
works  created  centers  in  man. 

1.       MIST   AND    RAIN 

Before  speaking  of  his  abode,  an  explanation 
is  thrown  in  of  the  state  of  the  vegetable  world. 
No  plant  of  the  field  and  no  herb  had  yet  sprung 
up  (2:5).  That  is,  the  vegetable  life  suited  for 
man  had  not  yet  been  created.  Vegetation  of  a 
different  kind,  and  belonging  to  the  carboniferous 
period,  and  such  as  was  needed  for  the  leviathans 
and  carniverous  animals  before  the  herbivorous, 
but  not  for  the  more  recent  animals.  For  this 
previous  vegetation,  all  the  moisture  required  and 
perhaps  in  great  abundance,  was  furnished  by  the 
mist  going  up  from  the  yet  uncooled  earth.  Evi- 
dently the  atmosphere  was  not  purified  and  did 
not  concentrate  the  moisture  in  clouds,  and  there 
was  no  rain. 

That  which  specially  interests  us  is  that  here  is 
a  bit,  not  of  antiquated  but  of  anticipated  science, 
58 


EDEN  AND  THE  FALL  59 

such  as  confirms  the  results  of  the  most  recent  In- 
vestigations with  regard  to  the  history  of  our 
globe.  As  man  could  not  learn  this  from  tradi- 
tion, nor  from  any  science  then  known,  the  only 
conceivable  source  is  the  inspiration  of  the  Al- 
mighty. And  to  this  we  look  rather  than  to  any 
Babylonian   or   Egyptian   documents. 

2.        GARDEN   OF      EDEN 

Man  having  been  made,  Jehovah  God  placed 
him  in  a  garden  "eastward  in  Eden"  (v.  8).  From 
the  description  the  garden  was  more  like  a  park 
of  considerable  extent,  with  four  rivers.  Two  of 
these  rivers,  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  are  identi- 
fied with  rivers  of  the  same  name,  while  the  others 
are  in  dispute.  The  location  is  also  in  dispute, 
whether  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivers  near  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  or  at  their  source  in  Armenia.  Fig 
leaves  and  the  absence  of  clothing  would  suggest 
the  more  Southern  locality. 

This  garden,  man  was  to  dress  and  keep  (2:  15) 
showing  that  labor  or  employment  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  a  state  of  innocence  and  happiness. 
Free  use  was  granted  to  all  the  trees  of  the  garden, 
with  one  exception,  and  that  was,  the  "tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  The  name  of  the 
tree  indicates  another  idea  beyond  the  fruit  it 
bore.  In  this  case  it  was  a  test  of  obedience. 
Obedience  would  result  in  knowing  the  good  by 
experience.  There  would  be  the  approbation  of 
God  and  of  one's  own   conscience.      Disobedience 


60         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

would  result  in  knowing  the  evil  and  its  effects. 
The  test  was  a  simple  one,  and  so  the  question  of 
obedience  was  easily  understood.  Fruit  must 
have  been  abundant  in  the  garden,  and  only  one 
tree  was  forbidden.  The  tree  of  life  was  accessible 
until  after  disobedience.  This  seems  a  symbol  of 
a  truth  underlying  the  whole  of  Scripture,  that 
life  is  provided  for  us  by  God  himself — is  his  gift, 
but  is  withheld  from  the  disobedient.  Wherever 
bestowed  it  is  an  invaluable  and  eternal  blessing. 

3.       THE  FALL 

The  next  topic  carries  us  still  further  into  the 
region  of  symbols.  The  tempter  appears  under 
the  guise  of  a  serpent — a  specially  fitting  emblem, 
when  we  consider  its  cunning  in  securing  its  prey 
and  avoiding  danger.  Some  have  thought  it  un- 
derwent a  change  after  the  curse,  and  became,  what 
it  was  not  before,  a  crawling  animal.  But  of  this 
we  are  not  sure.  It  seemed  in  no  way  repulsive 
to  Eve,  whereas,  since  then,  all  her  descendants 
have  looked  upon  snakes,  even  when  not  venomous, 
with  repugnance.  The  power  of  speech,  we  must 
consider  one  of  Satan's  devices  and  not  a  mere 
suggestion  to  the  mind  of  Eve,  without  any  out- 
ward expression.  She  had  not  yet  become  evil  so 
that  the  depraved  nature  could  be  the  medium  of 
wicked  thought,  as  with  us.  The  serpent's  method 
however,  was  the  same  that  the  devil  pursues  with 
us.  As  Matthew  Henry  says,  "he  questions,  first, 
whether  it  were  a  sin  or  no ;  second,  he  denies  that 


EDEN  AND  THE  FALL  Gl 

there  is  any  danger  in  it ;  third,  he  suggests  much 
advantage  by  it.  And  these  are  his  common 
methods."  He  begins  very  cautiously,  by  asking 
what  appeared  to  be  an  innocent  enquiry,  "Yea 
hath  God  said,  ye  shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of 
the  garden?"  He  seemed  to  intimate  that  the 
command,  not  to  eat,  extended  to  the  other  trees. 
To  which  the  woman  replies,  that  this  was  not  so. 
"We  may  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  trees  of  the  gar- 
den, but  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  garden,  God  hath  said,  ye  shall  not 
eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die." 
The  not  touching,  does  not  appear  in  the  original 
command,  but  it  is  always  safe  to  avoid  that 
which  is  forbidden.  The  danger  is  in  holding  the 
parley,  even  if  the  law  be  reaffirmed.  It  is  a  gain 
to  the  tempter,  to  get  an  ear  for  his  evil  sugges- 
tions. And  so  he  goes  on  to  say,  there  was  no 
danger  in  disobedience.  "Ye  shall  not  surely 
die."  This  was  a  bold  lie,  but  it  might  start  a 
doubt  about  the  justice,  a  certainty  of  the  pun- 
ishment. And  he  follows  it  up  by  affirming  that 
instead  of  danger,  there  would  be  decided  advan- 
tage. Ye  shall  be  as  God  himself — (not  as  gods 
— for  of  false  gods  Eve  knew  nothing).  He 
adroitly  uses  the  name  of  the  tree  as  an  assur- 
ance that  their  knowledge  should  be  enlarged.  In 
a  sense  it  would  be  true,  but  by  a  bitter  instead 
of  a  pleasant  experience  of  evil.  And  instead  of 
becoming  like  God,  they  would  be  made  like  Satan, 
antagonistic  to   God.      So   far    the    tempter  ad- 


62  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

dressed  the  ear.  After  this  he  could  afford  to  be 
silent,  as  he  sees  the  temptation  working  through 
the  eye,  as  Eve  looks  at  the  beauty  of  the  for- 
bidden fruit.  It  was  then  an  easy  step  to  open 
transgression — to  taking  the  fruit  and  giving  it 
to  her  husband,  who  thus  became  a  partaker  in 
her  act  of  disobedience. 

The  first  effect  of  their  sin  was  hiding  from 
him  against  whom  they  had  sinned;  and  a  sense 
of  shame  or  guilt  in  making  themselves  aprons  to 
cover  themselves.  The  hiding  from  God  reveals 
to  us  the  terms  of  friendly  intercourse  which  he 
had,  up  to  this  time  shown  his  children.  This 
was  now  broken  up,  and  was  one  of  the  penalties 
of  disobedience.  Man  was  expelled  from  the  gar- 
den and  from  access  to  the  tree  of  life.  Under 
harder  conditions  than  before,  he  was  to  till  the 
ground  and  seek  to  reap  from  it  the  fruit  of  his 
labors. 

4.       PUNISHMENT 

As  this  was  man's  first  transgression  and  as  it 
was  far-reaching  in  its  results,  it  is  well  to  con- 
sider what  the  punishment  was,  and  why  it  was 
inflicted.  Those  who  hold  to  the  imperfection  of 
our  first  parents,  would  hardly  consider  the  Fall 
and  Expulsion  from  Eden  as  a  punishment.  It 
was  rather  a  part  of  the  upward  progress  of  the 
race  from  savagery  to  civilization.  They  would 
claim  that  the  varied  races  were  involved  in  the 
same  moral  condition  as  the  Adamic  race  by  in- 


EDEN  AND  THE  FALL  63 

dependent  processes.  For  all  must  acknowledge 
that  man  as  he  now  exists  is  a  sinful  being.  How 
he  became  so  is  the  difficult  question,  especially  if 
we  do  not  accept  the  exact  statement  of  the  Bibli- 
cal narrative.  No  one  would  venture  the  state- 
ment that  God  made  man  imperfect,  and  therefore 
he  became  sinful.  It  is  almost  equivalent  to  say- 
ing he  made  man  sinful,  which  is  repugnant  to  all 
our  ideas  of  God.  So  that  we  are  forced  to  ac- 
cept the  only  other  alternative,  that  God  made 
man  perfect,  and  that  as  a  free  agent  he  fell  from 
that  high  estate  by  sinning  against  God.  (See 
Driver's  attempt  to  avoid  this  conclusion,  Gen. 
p.  56).  When  sin  has  been  committed,  that  it 
should  be  punished  is  a  necessity  in  all  govern- 
ment. The  Bible  treats  it  as  an  intentive  truth 
to  be  accepted  without  argument,  just  as  the 
being  of  God.  If  no  penalty  is  inflicted,  "the 
magistrate  beareth  the  sword  in  vain."  Some 
preach  a  gospel  of  rewards  and  no  punishments. 
But  that  is  not  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven — nor  of  any  known  system  of  govern- 
ment. What  then  is  the  penalty?  Death  or  the 
opposite  of  the  life  promised.  Obey,  and  you 
have  the  one.    Disobey,  and  you  have  the  other. 

(1)     DEATH  TO  THE  BODY 

Life  was  first  immortality  to  both  soul  and 
body.  Immortality  to  the  soul  is,  in  a  sense, 
natural.  It  belongs  to  its  very  existence.  And 
from  the  whole  tenor  of  Scripture  it  is  never  taken 


64  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

away.  With  the  body  it  is  different.  It  is  earthly 
and,  like  all  things  of  earth,  perishes.  In  creating 
man  in  his  own  image,  God  endowed  this  transient 
material  with  immortality.  As  a  punishment  of 
sin  it  was  sent  back  to  its  original  condition. 
"Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return." 
Some  indication  of  what  might  have  been  our  lot 
was  given  by  the  prolongation  of  human  life  to 
nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  by  the  translation 
of  Enoch  without  seeing  death.  This  first  gift  of 
longevity  to  the  body  and  then  the  shortening  of 
man's  days  on  the  earth,  seems  vastly  more  satis- 
factory in  view  of  what  man  is  and  of  what  he 
was  made  for,  than  the  assertion  of  Canon  Driver 
"that  the  longevity  here  described  is  physiologi- 
cally incompatible  with  the  structure  of  the  hu- 
man body"  (Gen.  p.  75).  It  is  incompatible  with 
the  structure  of  the  body  that  it  should  rise  again. 
And  yet  we  believe  in  that,  as  a  result  of  divine 
power.  And  we  believe  in  it  as  a  restoration  to 
man  of  all  that  he  lost  in  the  Fall. 

With  this  taking  away  of  the  immortality  of  the 
body  there  was  inflicted  the  sorrow  and  burden, 
which  in  this  life  accompanies  sin.  The  woman 
was  especially  to  suffer,  and  the  ground  was  to 
be  cursed  for  man's  sake.  Thorns  and  thistles 
were  to  grow  spontaneously,  and  in  the  sweat  of 
his  brow,  man  was  to  cultivate  the  soil.  The  extra 
labor  involved  has  in  it  the  seeds  of  blessing,  for 
labor  is  better  than  idleness.  It  was  punishment, 
as  has  been  witnessed  by  the  sorrows  and  miseries 


EDEN  AND  THE  FALL  65 

of  these  thousands  of  years ;  but  not  wholly  with- 
out its  consoljitions.  It  is  a  liarder  task  to  sub- 
jugate nature  and  ourselves  than  if  we  had  con- 
tinued innocent,  but  there  is  a  greater  reward  if 
we  come  off  victorious. 

(2)     SPIRITUAL   DEATH 

Death  came  not  only  to  the  body,  but  to  the 
soul.  As  the  soul  continues  its  existence  while 
the  body  dies,  the  main  significance  of  death  is  not 
in  the  outward  and  material.  The  particulars  in- 
volved show,  however,  that  it  is  a  fearful  reality. 
There  is  (1)  Alienation  from  God — manifest  in 
hiding  from  God,  as  our  first  parents  did  in  the 
garden.  (2)  Subjugation  of  the  higher  nature  to 
the  lower.  The  reverse  of  this  was  the  teaching 
of  man's  whole  organization.  As  an  animal,  the 
brain,  not  size  or  strength,  was  the  dominating 
faculty.  Through  centuries,  life  in  animal  was 
progressing  from  mollusk  to  vertebrate,  and  from 
vertebrate  in  fish  to  vertebrate  in  animal.  And 
from  vertebrate  in  animal  with  his  four  paws  for 
locomotion,  to  the  upright  position  in  man  and 
with  his  brain  using  hand  and  arm  for  higher 
purposes  than  instinct  ever  suggested.  And  then 
crowning  all,  comes  the  supreme  work  of  God, 
subjecting  brain  to  the  control  of  moral  power, 
representing  God  within  us  and  God  over  and 
above  all  his  works.  When  Eve  listened  to  the 
serpent  it  was  rebellion  against  the  fundamental 
law  of  our  being.    Disobedience  was  disorder,  con- 


66         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

fusion,  anarchy,  not  only  in  man,  but  in  the 
whole  realm  of  nature  that  sympathized  with  his 
fallen  condition.  (3)  In  this  state  man  could  no 
longer  do  good,  and  (4)  was  prone  to  evil.  With 
reference  to  the  two  last  features,  subsequent  his- 
tory furnished  abundant  evidence. 

(3)     DEATH  ETERNAL 

Eternal  death  follows  necessarily  from  death  of 
soul  and  body.  Once  begun,  it  must  continue  to 
man  and  his  descendants,  as  long  as  the  aliena- 
tion from  God  lasts.  How  long  this  alienation 
shall  last  and  how  it  can  be  removed,  depends  on 
him  against  whom  sin  has  been  committed.  That 
there  was  hope  of  restoration  is  intimated  in  this 
connection.  But  the  first  thought  is  the  making 
clear  that  suffering  and  punishment  follow  sin. 
The  law  is  guarded  first  on  the  side  of  justice  and 
then  afterward  on  the  side  of  mercy  and  forgive- 
ness. God  who  made  man  knows  just  what  he 
needs  in  the  way  of  strength  of  motive,  to  keep 
him  in  the  path  of  virtue  and  obedience. 

(4)     THE   FIRST    PROMISE    OR   PROTEVANGELISM 

Lest  our  first  parents  should  sink  into  despond- 
ency, there  came  with  this  infliction  of  punish- 
ment, the  foreshadowing  of  the  conflict  between 
right  and  wrong  and  obedience  and  disobedience. 
It  was  to  be  a  conflict  vastly  prolonged.  It  was 
to  be  waged  through  the  ages  between  the  great 
spiritual  forces  represented  by  sin,  evil  and  Satan 


EDEN  AND  THE  FALL  67 

on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  by  conscience, 
the  obligation  to  do  right,  and  especially  God  in 
Christ.  The  seed  of  the  woman  was  to  bruise  the 
head  of  the  serpent  and  the  serpent  was  to  bruise 
his  heel.  After  ages  of  this  conflict,  and  since 
Christ  has  appeared  in  the  flesh,  no  clearer  de- 
scription has  been  given  of  the  fight  and  the  ulti- 
mate victory  than  in  this  brief  sentence — this  ray 
of  hope,  as  Adam  and  Eve  were  thrust  out  of 
Paradise.  Here  is  prophecy  begun  by  Him  who 
knows  all  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 

(5)     SACRIFICE 

In  connection  with  this  promise,  comes  an  indi- 
cation of  regard  for  the  guilty  pair.  It  is  said, 
"Jehovah  God  made  for  Adam  and  for  his  wife 
coats  of  skins  and  clothed  them."  (3:21).  How 
much  this  implies  it  is  difficult  to  say.  From  the 
fact  that  sacrifices  are  spoken  of  in  the  next  chap- 
ter, it  does  not  seem  an  improper  inference  that 
they  were  now  instituted  and  that  the  skins  were 
from  beasts,  slain  for  that  object.  If  so,  a  great 
truth  is  here  symbolized  that  through  sacrifice, 
the  nakedness  of  the  soul  is  covered  by  the  right- 
eousness which  God  has  provided  by  the  substi- 
tution of  a  victim  in  the  place  of  the  offender. 
How  far  our  first  parents  realized  the  truth  thus 
set  forth  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Eve  seemed  to 
hold  by  faith  to  the  promise  in  calling  her  first- 
born as  one  gotten  from  the  Lord,  or  as  some 
think   it   should  be  translated,   "I   have  gotten   a 


68         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

man — Jehovah" — as  if  not  only  the  promise  of 
bruising  the  head  of  the  serpent  was  to  be  ful- 
filled in  this  boy,  but  that  the  boy  himself  was 
Jehovah-God  manifest  in  the  flesh.  However, 
while  some  see  too  little  in  the  record,  we  would 
not  go  to  the  other  extreme,  of  finding  more  than 
the  type  and  shadow  of  things  to  come. 


CHAPTER  V 
CAIN  AND  ABEL 

GENESIS,    CHAPTER   4 

This  chapter  is  a  sequence  to  the  story  of  the 
Fall,  and  shows  that  the  sin  of  our  first  parents 
involved  their  offspring.  Of  the  sinfulness  of  the 
whole  race  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Two  ways  of 
explaining  it  are  common  among  theologians. 
One  is  that  by  nature  we  are  children  of  wrath. 
The  old  law  of  like  producing  its  like  is  true  of 
man  in  his  spiritual  nature.  Born  of  parents, 
who  after  the  Fall,  were  corrupt,  we  partake  of 
their  corruption.  Another  idea  is  that  of  federal 
headship.  As  we  partake  of  the  blessings  of 
Christ,  the  second  Adam,  by  coming  into  cove- 
nant relation  with  him  through  faith,  so  through 
the  first  Adam  we  share  in  the  results  of  his  trans- 
gression. The  two  explanations  melt  into  each 
other,  as  we  view  them  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
first  or  second  Adam. 

(1)    THE   FIRST   MURDER 

That  the  first-born  of  our  race  should  be  a  mur- 
derer, and  that  too  of  his  own  brother,  is  not  a 
pleasant  fact  to  read  about,  so  soon  after  the 
creation  of  man  in  God's  image  and  the  placing 
him  innocent  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  And  then 
how  strange  that  the  brother  who  was  so  unsus- 
pecting, and  who  was  accepted  by  God  in  his  wor- 

69 


70         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

ship,  was  not  kept  from  harm  by  the  Almighty; 
when  at  the  same  time  he  condescended  to  reason 
with  and  protect  the  wicked  brother.  Thus  early 
are  we  taught  that  the  rewards  of  the  righteous 
are  not  in  this  life.  We  are  also  taught  the  long- 
suffering  and  patience  of  God  towards  the  worst 
of  criminals. 

The  occasion  of  Cain's  anger  against  his 
brother,  was  because  Abel's  sacrifice  was  accepted 
of  God,  while  his  was  not.  Adam  doubtless  acted 
as  priest  in  his  own  family,  just  as  Abraham  did, 
until  his  sons  were  grown  and  had  households  of 
their  own.  Cain  and  Abel  were  engaged  in  rural 
occupations — the  one  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  the 
other  a  keeper  of  sheep. 

(2)     SIGNIFICANCE    OF   SACRIFICE 

At  the  end  of  days,  which  some  suppose  was  the 
Sabbath,  others  the  end  of  the  year,  or  at  the 
time  of  harvest,  they  came  with  their  sacrifice. 
Both  brought  of  the  fruits  of  their  toil,  and  so  far 
as  expressions  of  thankfulness  were  concerned, 
this  was  the  proper  method.  Cain  may  have  ar- 
gued, I  am  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  and  I  bring 
these  fruits  as  a  token  of  gratitude.  This  is  nat- 
ural religion,  and  from  a  human  standpoint,  was 
correct.  But  it  did  not  meet  with  the  divine  ap- 
proval. In  what  way  that  approval  was  mani- 
fested is  not  certain.  Many  think  that  as  in  later 
times,  the  sacrifice  of  Abel  was  consumed  by  fire. 
If  not  in  that  way,  it  was  made  plain  to  Cain  that 


CAIN  AND  ABEL  71 

his  offering  was  not  accepted.  In  tlie  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews,  it  is  said  that  "by  faith,  Abel 
offered  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain" 
(11:4).  If  by  faith,  there  must  have  been  some 
previous  instruction  as  to  the  method  and  object 
of  sacrifice.  As  a  thank-offering,  and  without 
any  revelation  of  tlie  divine  will,  Cain's  offering 
was  as  appropriate  as  Abel's.  But  if  God  had 
signified  that  he  preferred  another  way,  then  that 
May  must  be  followed.  How  far  our  first  parents 
were  instructed  as  to  the  nature  of  sacrifice  and 
its  connection  with  the  promised  deliverer,  Reve- 
lation does  not  inform  us.  We  suppose  light  on 
this  matter  became  clearer  as  the  time  approached 
for  Christ's  coming.  Possibly  all  they  knew  was 
that  sacrifice  was  to  be  of  the  firstlings  of  the 
flock.  This  meant  expiation — substitution  of  life 
for  life.  Doubtless  there  was  a  tendency  to  the 
idea  of  Cain,  that  a  sacrifice  was  simply  a  thank- 
offering,  or  as  they  were  called  by  the  Greeks,  the 
food  and  drink  of  the  gods.  Thus  Homer  "de- 
scribes Jupiter  and  the  rest  of  the  gods,  as  going 
from  Olympus  to  a  festal  sacrifice,  which  the 
Ethiopians  presented  to  him,  and  which  lasted 
twelve  days"  (Knapp's  "Theology,"  p.  380).  The 
same  idea  is  expressed  in  the  cooked  sacrifices,  or 
offerings  of  the  Chinese.  In  connection  with  this 
festal  idea,  there  is  also  ample  evidence  of  the 
idea  of  expiation,  or  at  least  appeasing  the  anger 
of  the  gods.  Hence  it  was  believed  that  the  more 
precious  the  victim,  and  the  more  nearly  connected 


72         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

with  the  offerer,  the  more  certainly  would  the 
gods  be  appeased.  Hence  the  splendid  hecatombs 
mentioned  by  Homer,  and  hence  human  sacrifices 
and  the  offering  of  children  by  their  own  parents. 
Asar  says  of  the  Gauls,  "that  unless  the  life  of  a 
man  was  given  for  the  life  of  men,  they  did  not 
think  that  the  immortal  gods  could  otherwise  be 
appeased."  (See  Hill's  "Divinity,"  p.  443).  It 
is  not  necessary  to  claim  that  this  expiatory  idea 
of  sacrifice  was  handed  down  by  tradition  from 
our  first  parents,  though  that  certainly  is  prob- 
able. To  this  may  have  been  added  the  yearnings 
of  our  fallen  nature  to  find  a  way  of  reconcilia- 
tion to  God.  There  is  certainly  no  evidence  that 
the  typical  idea  so  constantly  prominent  in  Scrip- 
ture and  which  kept  the  Jews  from  excess  as  in 
offering  human  sacrifices,  was  ever  present,  except 
in  connection  with  revelation.  And  yet  the  typi- 
cal, as  well  as  the  expiatory  idea,  was  always  a 
part  of  acceptable  sacrifice.  It  must  have  been  so 
with  Abel ;  for  his  offering  was  acceptable  through 
faith  in  the  future  and  not  merely  because  of  obe- 
dience to  a  divine  command.  Cain's  offering  was 
without  faith ;  and  so  he  neglected  both  the  typical 
and  the  expiatory  idea.  And  yet  he  was,  in  his 
way,  religious.  He  brought  an  offering  to  the 
Lord.  From  this  it  is  evident  that  mere  worship 
is  not  sufficient.  The  external  performance  of 
what  we  may  think  duty  may  not  be  acceptable  in 
the  sight  of  God.  Without  faith  it  is  impossible 
to  please  him.     Shut  out  of  Paradise,  man's  hope 


CAIN  AND  ABEL  73 

is  in  God's  way  of  return  and  not  by  seeking  to 
climb  over  the  wall. 

This  explanation  of  the  meaning  of  sacrifice 
and  the  reason  why  Cain's  offering  was  not  ac- 
cepted is  more  in  accord  with  the  fundamental 
thought  of  the  Old  Testament  in  looking  at  the 
future,  than  the  less  prominent  but  important 
idea  of  regarding  our  motives  in  the  worship  of 
God.  (This  last  is  Driver's  explanation,  Gen., 
p.  64). 

The  acceptance  of  Abel's  sacrifice,  while  his 
was  rejected,  stirred  up  envy  and  anger  in  the 
breast  of  Cain.  His  countenance  fell  and  he  was 
very  wroth.  Notwithstanding  his  unreasonable 
anger,  God  reasons  with  Cain.  He  reminds  him 
that  he  knew  enough  of  God  to  know  that  his  deal- 
ings were  right — that  if  he  did  well  he  should  be 
accepted,  but  if  not,  sin  lay  at  the  door.  There 
are  two  interpretations  of  this  last  clause.  One 
that  if  he  did  not  do  well,  repent  and  sin,  that  is, 
a  sin-offering,  lay  at  the  door.  Come  with  the  ap- 
pointed sacrifice  and  be  accepted.  The  other  in- 
terpretation personifies  sin  as  lying  in  wait  at  the 
door.  Sinful  passion  lay  as  a  ravenous  beast  to 
devour  him ;  but  thou  shouldst  rule  over  it,  con- 
quer the  rising  temptation  before  it  is  too  strong 
for  thee,  and  subdue  it.  Driver,  who  holds  the 
latter  view,  adds,  "It  teaches  a  profound  psycho- 
logical truth,  the  danger  of  harboring  a  sullen  and 
unreasoning  discontent.  It  is  a  temper  which  is 
only  too  likely  to  lead  to  fatal  consequences,  and 


74         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

which  therefore  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  show  itself 
should  at  all  costs  be  checked."  ("Commentary  on 
Genesis,"  p.  65). 

The  reasoning  of  God  seemed,  however,  to  have 
no  effect  on  Cain.  He  concealed  his  wrath  for  a 
time,  talking  with  Abel  under  the  guise  of  friend- 
ship, and  waiting  until  they  could  be  alone  in  the 
field.  And  then  he  rose  up  against  his  brother 
and  slew  him. 

Notwithstanding  the  sin  of  Cain,  God  still  rea- 
soned with  him  and  did  not  visit  his  crime  with 
the  punishment  it  deserved.  He  was  to  bear  the 
burden  of  his  sin  in  a  life  cursed.  By  some  vis- 
ible mark  it  was  known  that  he  was  God's  pris- 
oner and  was  not  to  be  killed.  It  is  evident  as 
we  read  on  that  the  curse  was  not  in  the  depriva- 
tion of  worldly  comforts  and  blessings.  For  the 
descendants  of  Cain  were  the  inventors  of  that 
period,  not  only  in  useful  arts,  but  in  music  as 
well. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  forbearance  of  God 
had  but  little  eifect  on  Cain  and  his  posterity,  for 
we  read  that  Lamech,  the  seventh  from  Adam, 
was  a  polygamist  and  murderer,  and  seemed  to 
boast  as  if  he  should  escape  punishment  as  Cain 
did  before  him  (4:23,  M).  As  Abel  received 
not  the  rewards  of  righteousness  in  this  life,  so 
Cain  and  his  descendants  were  not  punished  for 
their  evil  deeds  in  the  present.  Cain  undoubtedly 
felt  the  remorse  of  his  guilty  deed,  but  unwilling 
to  accept  the  advice  of  God,  went  out,  as  the  nar- 


CAIN  AND  ABEL  75 

rative  reads,  "from  the  presence  of  Jehovah" 
(4:16).  He  left  the  region  where  his  parents 
resided  and  where  we  suppose  they  still  sacrificed 
to  God,  while  he  himself  would  no  longer  worship 
in  a  way  which  had  proved  unacceptable.  Gov- 
erned by  his  fears  he  built  a  city,  not  in  our  mod- 
ern sense,  but  a  fortified  dwelling  place. 

(3)     SETH 

As  Abel  had  been  slain  and  Cain  had  gone 
eastward,  a  new  successor  of  the  promise  was 
granted  in  the  person  of  Seth.  This  line  of 
promise  towards  the  Messiah  is  one  kept  care- 
fully in  view,  if  not  by  the  human  historian,  yet 
by  God  himself.  Other  sons  and  daughters  were 
bom  to  our  first  parents  and  their  descendants, 
but  the  history  never  loses  sight  of  the  seed  of 
the  woman  and  of  his  personal  name,  that  was 
to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent.  This  personal 
mention  does  away  with  the  speculation  indulged 
in  by  some  that  we  have  in  these  chapters  the 
names  of  tribes,  instead  of  persons. 

In  this  line  of  Seth  we  come  to  an  interesting 
record  in  the  days  of  his  son  Enoch  that  "then 
men  began  to  call  on  the  name  of  Jehovah." 
(4:26).  What  had  been  the  neglect,  and  what 
was  the  occasion  for  this  new  interest  we  are  not 
informed.  Incidentally  we  learn  that  some  250 
years  after  the  Fall,  there  was  such  an  increase 
in  the  human  family  that  history  takes  on  the 
usual    parlance   of  what   belongs     to    the    nation 


76         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

rather  than  the  individual.  This  service  of  Je- 
hovah which  began  in  Enoch's  time  seems  to  be 
one  of  those  glimpses  which  we  have  of  the  spir- 
itual life  before  the  Flood. 

(  4  )    ENOCH 

A  second  glimpse  comes  several  generations 
later  in  the  time  of  Enoch,  who,  like  Lamech  of 
the  line  of  Cain,  was  the  seventh  from  Adam.  He, 
apparently  roused  by  the  defiance  and  reckless- 
ness of  such  men  as  Lamech,  who  gloried  in  their 
"exemption  from  punishment"  prophesied  that 
"the  Lord  would  come  with  ten  thousand  of  his 
holy  ones  to  execute  judgment  and  convict  the 
ungodly  of  their  deeds"  (Jude  14  and  15  vs  ). 
Enoch's  translation  to  the  presence  of  God  was 
a  still  further  lesson  to  those  of  that  age  that  the 
rewards  of  righteousness  were  in  the  future. 
Long  life  was  a  temptation  to  indulge  in  wick- 
edness, and  so  man's  days  were  shortened.  Enoch 
only  lived  out  about  half  of  the  usual  period  of 
man's  days ;  and  was  not  for  God  took  him.  Per- 
haps his  translation  indicated  the  way  in  which 
we  would  have  been  taken  to  another  world  if 
our  first  parents  had  not  sinned..  The  third  and 
last  glimpse  of  the  spiritual  life  of  this  period 
shows  a  state  of  sad  decline  in  those  who  repre- 
sented the  Sons  of  God. 

(5)     SONS   OF   GOD 

At  first  sight  we  might  imagine  that  those  thus 


CAIN  AND  ABEL  77 

designated  were  angelic  beings  (as  in  Job  38:7) 
and  thus  get  the  sanction  of  Scripture  to  the 
lustful  idea  of  the  gods  of  the  heathen,  but  we  re- 
member that  man  was  made  in  God's  image  and 
so  was  entitled  to  be  called  his  son.  And  that 
among  the  descendants  of  Adam  there  were  those 
like  Abel  who  worshipped  aright,  and  that  in 
Enoch's  time,  there  were  those  who,  responsive  to 
the  original  longings  of  man  after  God,  sought 
him,  and  that  there  were  men  like  Enoch  and 
Noah  who  walked  with  God,  and  we  also  know 
from  human  experience,  that  those  thus  walking 
and  called  his  sons,  might  fall  into  sin  as  Israel 
and  the  church  have  done,  so  we  conclude  that 
there  were  a  goodly  number  among  the  descend- 
ants of  Seth  who  had  earned  the  right  to  the  title 
of  Sons  of  God,  as  in  these  days  we  have  of  being 
called  Christians. 

(6)     GENERAL    CONCLUSIONS 

Doubtless  all  attentive  readers  of  these  first 
chapters  of  Genesis,  are  struck  with  the  brevity 
of  the  record.  Here  are  ten  generations  covering 
a  period  of  two  thousand  years  (according  to  the 
Hebrew,  1656  and  the  Seventy  2262)  and  after 
the  story  of  the  Creation  and  the  Fall,  a  short 
chapter  covers  the  ground  from  Adam  to  Noah. 
But  what  is  written  is  sufficient  to  admirably  fit 
into  the  plan  of  a  Revelation  of  salvation  for 
man. 


78         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

First  comes  the  origin  of  man — made  in  the 
image  of  God. 

Second,  how  he  became  sinful. 

Third,  the  consequences  of  that  sinful  state, 
(a)  in  man's  depraved  nature;  (b)  in  the  pun- 
ishment inflicted  upon  sin. 

The  character  of  God  appears  in  clear  accord 
with  subsequent  revelation  (1)  Just  in  the  pun- 
ishment of  sin.  (2)  Merciful  (a)  in  the  promise 
of  victory  to  the  seed  of  the  woman;  (b)  in  sac- 
rifice which  looked  to  a  substitute  for    man's  sin; 

(c)  in  long-suflfering  to  the  sinful  and  rebellious; 

(d)  in    intimations    that    immortality    would  be 
granted  to  those  who  walked  with  God. 

Still  further  there  were  some  lessons  about 
sin.  In  its  simplest  form  sin  is  an  act  of  disobe- 
dience. But  it  is  against  God,  who  has  placed 
man  in  the  highest  position  a  creature,  who  is  in 
one  sense  an  animal,  could  occupy.  He  was  linked 
to  God,  with  the  implied  thought  that  dominion 
belonged  to  the  higher  nature.  He  yielded  to  the 
lower  nature— acted  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
position  in  which  God  placed  him.  Disobedience 
in  the  moral  world  was  like  inaccuracy  in  the  phy- 
sical. The  motion  of  the  planets  is  free  and 
smooth  in  their  orbits,  admitting  also  of  special 
movements,  yet  the  accuracy  of  revolution  is  ab- 
solute, admitting  of  no  variation  even  to  the 
thousandth  part  of  a  second.  So  in  the  sphere  of 
moral  revolution  obedience  should  be  simple,  ab- 
solute, and  unquestioning  to  the  Father  and  Ruler 


CAIN  AND  ABEL  79 

of  all.  While  man  is  a  free  moral  agent  and 
is  thus  responsible  for  his  own  choice,  there  is 
here  clearly  stated  the  agency  of  the  devil  in 
tempting  man — a  fact  which  is  recognized 
through  the  whole  of  subsequent  revelation.  3. 
We  have  here  an  admirable  study  in  Psychology: 
(1)  The  methods  of  attack  on  the  part  of  the 
tempter.  (2)  The  yielding  and  excuses  on  the 
part  of  the  tempted.  (3)  The  growth  of  envy 
into  hatred  and  murder.  (4)  The  way  of  escape 
offered  and  resisted,  and  the  effect  of  remorse  and 
fear.  Here  are  pictures  of  actual  reality,  true  in 
every  age,  and  plainly  indicative  of  the  need  of 
divine  help,  as  the  tendency  of  man  to  go  astray 
is  seen  to  be  so     strong. 


CHAPTER  VI 
CHRONOLOGY 

Before  proceeding  with  the  next  great  physical 
fact,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  with  ref- 
erence to  Chronology.  Chronology  is  only  the 
dry  bones  of  history.  History  begins  with  man — 
with  Adam,  according  to  the  Bible.  Adam  was 
created  in  God's  image,  as  the  last  and  highest 
of  the  animal  creation,  and  for  whom  all  the  other 
parts  of  creation  had  been  made  subservient.  In 
this  science  agrees  perfectly  with  revelation. 
When  he  was  created  is  in  a  measure  pointed  out 
by  both  in  perfect  harmony  with  one  another.  It 
would  naturally  be,  when  all  things  were  made 
ready  for  his  appearance.  Certainly  it  would  not 
be  in  the  carboniferous  period,  when  the  atmos- 
phere was  not  purified  and  when  the  animals 
were  not  suited  to  his  tastes  and  wants.  Nor 
would  it  be  in  the  time  of  cave-bears,  cave-lions, 
hyenas  and  other  carniverous  beasts,  when  some 
have  fancied  the  bones  of  our  ancestors  have  been 
found.  It  would  not  have  been  before  or  in  the 
intense  cold  of  the  Glacial  period,  when  many 
types  of  animals  were  destroyed.  But  a  more  fit- 
ting time  would  be  when  the  garden,  like  the 
earth,  of  which  it  was  a  part,  was  complete — when 
its  continents  with  up-heaved  mountain  ranges 
and  river  systems,  received  their  final  adjustment, 
when  the  grapes,  grains  and  fruits  for  man's  use, 

80 


CHRONOLOGY  81 

and  for  the  birds,  fishes  and  animals  that  were  to 
be  his  companions  and  helpi-rs  had  been  created — 
then  and  not  till  then  would  seem  the  time  to  in- 
troduce man  into  the  world  over  which  he  was  to 
have  dominion.  Through  successive  stages  and 
during  many  long  periods  of  time,  the  construc- 
tion of  the  pyramid  had  been  going  on,  and  the 
lines  converging  towards  the  Apex,  and  when  it 
had  been  reached  in  man,  the  image  of  his  Crea- 
tor, what  else  could  be  expected  than  that  the 
work  of  creation  should  cease?  Can  we  through 
science,  approximate  to  the  time  of  this  consum- 
mation and  completion?  The  first  attempts  to 
compute  the  time  geologically  were  from  the  time 
occupied  in  the  erosion  of  rivers,  as  for  example, 
the  Niagara  gorge.  At  first  Lyell  thought  that 
it  must  have  taken  one  hundred  thousand  years  to 
have  worn  back  the  rock  to  its  present  position. 
More  careful  observations  have  made  great  reduc- 
tions in  this  estimate,  and  now  the  general  con- 
sensus of  authorit}^  is  that  "the  post-glacial  time 
cannot  be  more  than  ten  thousand  years,  and 
probably  not  more  than  seven  thousand."  (See 
Dr.  Orr's  "God's  Image  in  INIan,"  p.  175).  How 
strikingly  near  this  comes  to  Biblical  representa- 
tion of  the  time  when  man  appeared,  is  apparent. 
We  have  two  witnesses,  one  stating  that  man  was 
created  about  six  thousand  years  ago,  and  the 
other  declaring  that  the  world  was  not  ready  for 
his  appearing  until  a  period  ranging  from  seven 
to  ten  thousand  years  ago,  and   inclining  to  the 


82         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

smaller  number.  In  view  of  this  argument  there 
are  certain  conclusions  that  may  be  put  down  as 
highly  probable,  though  they  have  been  disputed 
by  critics  of  high  authority. 

1.  As  to  man's  appearance  on  the  earth,  the 
conclusion  from  these  two  witnesses  is  that  it  was 
comparatively  recent.  Prof.  Kent,  however, 
affirms  that  the  combined  evidence  of  archaeology, 
anthropology  and  geology  indicate  that  man  has 
existed  on  the  earth  at  least  twenty-five  thousand 
and  probably  one  hundred  thousand  years." 
("Historical  Bible,"  vol.  1,  p.  5).  This  of  course 
is  to  allow  time  for  the  evolution  of  man  from 
anthropoid  ancestors.  It  is  not  necessary  to  re- 
peat the  arguments  (see  above,  p.  50)  to  show 
that  the  gap  between  animal  and  man  cannot  be 
bridged  by  time,  however  long,  but  by  the  creative 
power  of  God.  And  as  we  have  just  stated,  geol- 
ogy in  the  progressive  stages  of  its  development 
was  not  ready  for  man's  appearance  until  the 
post-glacial  period. 

2.  History.  We  reach  a  much  more  precise 
and  definite  period  as  to  the  beginnings  of  history 
than  that  which  comes  to  us  from  any  other 
source.  It  is  no  little  satisfaction  to  have  mists 
and  cloud-lands  of  fabulous  record  cleared  away 
by  the  sunlight  of  a  simple  and  authoritative 
statement.  Thus  according  to  Berosus,  ten  kings 
before  the  Flood  reigned  for  432,000  years.  The 
last  of  these  was  Xinthros  who  reigned  64,800 
years,  and  is   supposed  to  correspond  to  Noah. 


CHRONOLOGY  83 

(See  Driver's  "Genesis,"  p.  80).  These  absurdly 
fabulous  periods  of  the  historians  arc  paralelled 
by  the  ages  of  the  Paliolithic  aiul  Neolithic  man, 
the  stone  age,  the  iron  age,  etc.,  before  our  sav- 
age ancestors  reached  civilization.  The  strange 
thing  about  this  civilization,  which  blossomed  out 
so  vigorously,  say  from  4000  to  5000  B.  C,  is 
that  it  was  hardly  surpassed  by  later  develop- 
ments. The  monuments  make  mention  of  sculp- 
tors, brick-makers,  carpenters,  masons,  smiths, 
including  those  who  worked  in  gold  and  silver, 
jewellers,  potters,  miners  and  weavers  and  basket 
workers.  Cuniform  writing  had  been  invented, 
the  length  of  the  solar  year  (365  1-4  days)  had 
been  determined,  and  eclipses  predicted.  (See 
"Historical  Bible,"  pp.  6-7).  Prof.  Clay  in  his 
book,  "Light  on  the  Old  Testament  from  Babel," 
refers  to  a  silver  vase,  the  date  of  which  he  gives 
as  4100  B.  C.  This  vase  with  its  engravings  of 
birds  and  animals,  is  so  elaborate  a  piece  of  work- 
manship— "comparable  in  many  respects  with 
our  own,"  that  one  could  hardly  believe  it  to  be  of 
so  ancient  a  date  (p.  52).  This  early  civilization 
came  as  a  surprise  to  those  who  imagined  that 
long  ages  were  necessary  to  the  development  of 
art  and  industry  in  our  savage  ancestors,  but  it 
is  just  what  we  might  expect  if  our  first  parents 
were  created  in  the  image  of  God  and  lived  on  for 
nearly  a  thousand  years.  Long  experience  and 
native  ability  would  have  made  them  proficient  not 
only  in  meeting  necessities,  but  in  the  invention  of 


84  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

those  things  pertaining  to  ease  and  luxury.  And 
so  we  read  in  the  brief  record  of  their  inventing 
instruments  of  music  as  well  as  making  instru- 
ments of  brass  and  iron  (4:21  and  22).  And 
then  when  a  vessel  was  needed  to  save  themselves 
and  the  animals  from  destruction  by  the  Flood, 
they  had  all  the  art  and  capacity  necessary  for 
such  an  undertaking.  God  directed  as  to  the 
main  features,  but  the  details  were  left  to  Noah 
and  his  helpers. 

A  corrected  chronology  is  therefore  much 
briefer  and  more  in  accordance  with  the  facts  of 
the  case  as  revealed  by  the  monuments  of  the  past. 
This  is  its  broad  general  aspect.  When  we  come 
to  the  question  of  centuries — much  remains  to  be 
adjusted.  In  the  sacred  record  the  ruling  idea  is 
to  give  the  line  of  succession  culminating  in  Christ 
— the  seed  of  the  woman.  Its  accuracy  in  this  re- 
spect is  unquestioned.  But  yet  it  has  not  seemed 
necessary  to  mention  all  the  names.  We  have  ex- 
amples of  such  omission  by  comparing  Ezra  7 : 1- 
5  with  1  Chron.  6:3-14,  where,  according  to  the 
latter,  six  consecutive  names  have  been  dropped. 
If  no  names  are  omitted  in  the  ancestry  of  Moses, 
his  grandfather  had  8,600  male  descendants  and 
probably  as  many  female  in  Moses'  lifetime  (Num. 
3:  27,  28).  In  the  familiar  ancestry  of  David  only 
six  or  seven  names  cover  a  period  of  four  hundred 
and  eighty  years.  (See  Ruth  4:18  and  1st 
Kings  6:1).  Readers  of  the  Bible  will  also  no- 
tice that  while  we  have   independent   records   of 


CHRONOLOGY  86 

years  up  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  we  have  none 
before  that  to  the  DeUige,  and  none  between  the 
Deluge  and  Creation.  (See  various  articles  of 
Prof.  W.  Henry  Green  on  the  Pentateuch).  How 
much  allowance  should  be  made  for  such  omis- 
sions of  names,  it  is  hard  to  say.  This  much  is 
certain,  that  the  Chronology  given  in  the  margin 
of  the  English  Bible,  which  is  known  as  Ushers' 
and  which  is  shorter  than  any  other,  is  not  neces- 
sarily to  be  followed  as  correct.  This  gives  the 
date  of  Creation  as  4004  B.  C.  and  of  the  Flood 
as  2348  B.  C. 

A  question  arises.  Are  there  any  dates  so  posi- 
tively fixed  by  Babylonian  or  Egyptian  Chron- 
ology as  to  make  any  change  necessary  in  the 
Biblical  statement  so  far  as  dates  are  known?  A 
brief  summary  of  facts  as  given  by  the  best  auth- 
orities will  show  that  a  brief  lengthening  of  the 
short  chronology  of  Usher  is  all  that  is  needed. 
In  Babylon  the  date  of  the  reign  of  the  first  king, 
Sargon  1st,  is  given  as  3800  B,  C.  Before  this 
there  were  nomadic  kings  or  rulers  of  tribes  often 
settled  in  cities.  This  previous  civilization  is  sup- 
posed to  have  extended  back  to  5000  B.  C.  Sar- 
gon became  the  first  world  conqueror,  and  under 
his  son  Naram-Sin,  inscriptions  are  found  as  far 
West  as  the  island  of  Cyprus.  In  Egypt  a  simi- 
lar state  existed — first  tribal  rule  and  then  con- 
sohdation  into  the  Northern  and  Southern  King- 
doms. The  Northern,  comprising  the  Delta  was 
probably  earlier  and  more  advanced  than  that  of 


86  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  valley  above.  Braested  mentions  the  discov- 
ery of  the  calendar  year  of  365  days  by  astrono- 
mers living  in  4241  B.  C.  (p.  35  of  his  history  of 
Egypt),  a  discovery  which  is  ascribed  by  others 
to  Babylonians  (see  above,  p.  116),  writing  in 
hieroglyphics  and  in  a  more  cursive  style  was 
probably  introduced  about  this  time.  The  two 
kingdoms  of  the  North  and  South  in  Egypt  were 
united  under  Menes  in  the  year  3400  B.  C.  At 
one  time  he  was  said  to  have  reigned  11,000  years 
before  the  Christian  Era.  Historic  civilization  is 
placed  by  Petrie  and  others  at  5000  B.  C. 

It  is  seen  therefore  that  a  high  state  of  civiliza- 
tion existed  before  the  Deluge;  and  that  it  cor- 
responded in  point  of  time  to  the  inventive  era 
mentioned  in  Genesis.  How  to  account  for  this 
is  the  question  which  spontaneously  arises  in  the 
mind  of  every  thoughtful  reader.  The  evolu- 
tionary theory  is  that  it  gradually  arose  from 
savagery  and  barbarism  through  a  long  period  of 
thousands  of  years.  But  observation  during  the 
historic  period  does  not  confirm  this  theory.  The 
two  ways  out  of  savagery  to  civilization*  which 
are  known  to  men  are  either  by  God's  direct 
agency  as  in  the  call  of  Abraham  and  of  the 
prophets  and  especially  by  the  mission  of  Christ, 
or  by  the  Church  taking  the  initiative  and  intro- 

*Dr.  Whately  in  his  Lecture  on  the  "Origin  of  Civilization" 
makes  the  following  remark:  "  Facts  are  stubborn  things  and 
that  no  authenticated  instance  can  be  produced  of  savages 
that  ever  did  emerge  imaided  from  that  state  is  no  story  but  a 
statement  hitherto  never  refuted  of  a  matter  of  fact. ' '  ( Quoted 
by  Dr.  Orr  in  his  work  "God's  Image  in  Man,"  p.  187.) 


CHRONOLOGY  87 

ducing  the  seeds  of  new  ideas.  In  every  case  the 
intellectual  uplift  has  been  through  the  moral,  or 
else  it  has  been  temporary  and  lapsed  into  bar- 
barism. The  only  satisfactory  solution  therefore, 
is  the  Biblical,  that  God  made  man  upright,  with 
mental  and  moral  capacities  of  the  highest  order 
— waiting  only  for  their  development  and  growth 
in  earthly  surroundings.  Man's  long  life  before 
the  Flood  gave  him  exceptional  advantages  for 
this  development,  through  the  seeds  of  corruption, 
were  working  within  him.  At  length  moral  cor- 
ruption set  in,  as  we  are  told  in  Genesis,  and  the 
devotion  to  idolatry  in  Bab^don  and  Egypt  is 
abundantly  confirmed  by  the  monuments.  And 
nothing  is  more  evident  than  the  debasing  effects 
of  idolatrous  worship  on  those  who  practise  it. 
The  tendency  downward  was  not  arrested  by  the 
severe  punishment  of  the  Deluge.  And  thus  came 
in  the  savage  state  by  departure  from  God,  and 
not  by  the  inherent  weakness  of  our  anthropoid 
ancestors. 

A  third  conclusion  crowns  the  record.  Since 
we  find  that  in  every  point  the  Biblical  account 
best  agrees  with  the  facts  as  recorded  in  nature — 
in  man's  constitution,  condition  and  early  history, 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  ascribing  it  to  the  same 
divine  care,  which  called  Abraham  and  sent  Christ 
into  the  world,  and  say,  it  is  a  Revelation  from 
God.  Some  of  the  facts  could  not  be  known  by 
man;  others  could  be  handed  down  by  tradition. 
And  so  God  and  man  co-operated  as  in  all  works 


88  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

pertaining  to  man's  salvation.  But  I  marvel  at 
two  things:  First,  the  brevity  of  the  record  when 
it  had  to  do  with  those  "men  of  renown"  living 
before  the  Flood;  and  second,  its  constant  adher- 
ence to  the  great  truth  of  one  God,  the  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  world,  while  all  other  litera- 
ture is  persistently  saturated  with  idolatry.  And 
so  we  consider  the  record  God-inspired,  rather 
than  derived  from  Babylon  or  any  other  human 
source. 

A  fourth  conclusion  is  somewhat  anticipatory. 
The  long  lives  of  the  Antediluvians  had  not  only 
their  effect  on  civilization,  but  in  the  increase  of 
population  during  these  two  thousand  years. 
How  far  man  was  scattered  over  the  globe  and 
how  numerous  the  population,  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  We  cannot  tell  about  the  destruction  of  life 
by  wars,  pestilence,  and  other  calamities.  Neither 
do  we  know  positively  about  the  rate  of  increase, 
whether  the  same  as  in  our  day  augmented  by  the 
great  longevity  of  the  Antediluvians.  Prof. 
Townsend  however,  makes  the  calculation  of  the 
population  of  the  earth  in  the  thirteenth  century 
after  Creation,  on  the  basis  of  doubling  every 
thirty-three  and  a  half  3'^ears,  instead  of  every 
twenty-five,  to  have  been  sixteen  hundred  and 
forty-nine  billions,  two  hundred  and  sixty-five 
millions  (p.  50,  "Deluge  History  or  Myth"). 
This  seems  almost  incredible  when  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  think  from  the  brief  history  of 
the  few  names  mentioned,  that  the  population  of 


CHRONOLOGY  89 

the  globe  could  not  have  extended  beyond  the  Eu- 
phrates and  Mediterranean  basins.  But  probably 
two  thousand  years  elapsed  between  Creation  and 
the  Deluge,  or  say  the  same  length  of  time  as  from 
the  birth  of  Christ  to  the  present,  and  how  rapid 
have  been  the  changes.  And  so  we  are  to  remem- 
ber what  might  have  been  accomplished  by  the 
migrations  and  civilization  of  a  stalwart  race  liv- 
ing as  many  centuries  as  we  do  years.  Prof. 
Townsend's  calculation  implies  a  dense  population 
reaching  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth. 
He  thinks,  and  there  are  reasons  advocated  by 
others,  that  North  and  South  America  were  more 
accessible  before  the  Deluge  than  now,  and  that 
there  has  been  a  subsidence  of  the  connection  be- 
tween New  Guinea  and  Australia  and  of  the 
islands  in  the  South  Pacific.  Perhaps  there  was 
in  that  portion  of  the  globe  a  vast  continent  of 
which  we  sec  the  mountain  peaks  and  ranges  in 
the  Hawaiian  and  other  groups  of  islands.  There 
will  be  occasion  to  refer  to  this  subject  again  in 
the  next  chapter.  It  is  alluded  to  now  to  show 
that  it  may  be  necessary  to  rectify  our  thinking 
about  the  civilization  and  population  of  the  globe 
in  the  Antediluvian   period. 

It  will  be  seen  that  no  attempt  has  been  made  to 
adjust  chronology  to  any  given  standard,  but 
merely  to  show  that  adjustability  is  possible;  and 
also  to  show  that  science  and  revelation,  so  far 
from  being  antagonistic,  arc  really  in  harmony 
and  like  mortice  and  tenon  fit  into  one  another  in 
supporting  the  truth. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  FLOOD 

GENESIS,  CHAPTERS  6,  7,  AND  8 

In  considering  this  topic  there  are  two  aspects 
which  require  attention — one  is  the  physical  fact 
and  the  other  the  moral,  or  the  Deluge  as  a  pun- 
ishment of  sin  and  the  escape  therefrom  by  Noah 
and  his  family.  As  a  physical  fact  it  is  only  one, 
perhaps  the  last  of  many  subsidences  of  the  land, 
which  have  taken  place  on  a  large  scale  in  the 
geological  history  of  the  globe.  We  often  think 
there  is  nothing  so  stable  as  the  solid  ground. 
But  the  most  permanent  and  changeless  thing  in 
its  past  history  has  been  the  water.  Dry  land  was 
first  called  out  of  the  deep,  and  evidence  is  abun- 
dant everywhere  of  constant  elevations  and  de- 
pressions. Coal  beds  were  elevated  and  the  rank 
vegetation  grew  luxuriantly,  and  then  it  was 
sealed  up  by  depression  and  compression  under 
water  and  often  under  stratified  rock,  and  in  many 
cases,  elevated  again  and  the  process  repeated. 

With  regard  to  the  depression  accompanying 
the  Noachian  Deluge,  which  is  indicated  by  "the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  being  broken  up," 
there  are  two  questions  (1)  when  did  it  occur.''  and 
(2)  was  it  universal.''  There  are  some  facts, 
however,  which  it  is  well  to  mention  before  decid- 
ing these  questions  very  positively.  First,  Geol- 
ogists agree  that  prior  to  the  appearance  of  man, 

90 


THE  FLOOD  91 

there  was  a  disappearance  of  the  large  carniverous 
animals.  Mr.  Alfred  Wallace  in  his  work  on  the 
"Distribution  of  Animals,"  speaks  "of  the  recent 
and  almost  universal  change  that  has  taken  place 
in  the  character  of  the  fauna  on  the  entire  globe" 
(Vol.  1,  p.  149).  Not  only  has  this  taken  place 
with  regard  to  cave-lions,  bears,  etc.,  but  arma- 
dillos, large  horses  and  tapirs.  And  in  Australia 
kangaroos  as  large  as  an  elephant  are  among  the 
extinct  fauna.  With  reference  to  this  sweeping 
away  of  so  many  large  and  fierce  animals,  he  says 
it  was  an  item  of  mercy  in  the  judgment  of  the 
flood,  for  it  made  the  world  a  better  habitation 
for  man  (lb.  Vol.  1,  p.  150).  The  use  of  the 
word  "flood,"  was  doubtless  an  inadvertence  by 
Mr.  Wallace,  for  he  thinks  that  this  change  in  the 
fauna  of  the  globe  took  place  at  the  time  of  the 
Glacial  epoch,  some  fifty  or  one  hundred  thou- 
sand years  ago.  We  are  inclined  to  accept  the 
conclusion  that  the  Glacial  epoch  and  its  accom- 
panying cold  is  largely  responsible  for  the  de- 
crease of  the  gigantic  carniverous  animals.  But 
there  are  some  animals,  notably  the  Mastodon, 
that  seem  to  have  become  extinct  at  a  later  period. 
Their  bones  have  been  found  near  the  surface 
in  bogs  or  peat  beds,  and  in  their  stomachs  re- 
mains of  twigs  of  trees,  representing  the  present 
flora  of  our  globe. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  also  to  notice  an- 
other fact.  Since  the  Glacial  epoch  there  is  evi- 
dence of  a  submergence  of  at  least  a  great  part 


92  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

of  the  northern  hemisphere  under  the  waters  of 
the  sea.  The  deposit  made  by  this  submergence 
consists  of  marine  gravel,  or,  as  it  is  called  from 
its  character  in  certain  localities,  inundation  mud. 
Thus  one  of  the  hills  in  the  Snowden  range  in 
North  Wales  is  covered  with  a  marine  gravel  at 
a  level  of  1,130  feet  above  the  sea.  And  this 
gravel  contains  shells  in  abundance — all  of  exist- 
ing species.  Prof.  Presturch  says  that  the  same 
submergence  prevailed  over  the  whole  of  Ireland, 
the  whole  of  Wales,  all  the  center  and  north  of 
England,  and  over  the  whole  of  Scotland.  A  large 
part  of  Russia  and  all  Northern  Germany  are  also 
included.  Italian  geologists  report  gravels  with 
three  hundred  kinds  of  existing  shells,  piled  up 
at  elevations  of  twenty-four  hundred  feet  above 
the  Mediterranean.  Charles  Darwin  speaks  of 
massive  marine  gravels  in  Patagonia  and  their 
connection  with  the  destruction  of  the  great  mam- 
malia of  South  America.  (See  Duke  of  Argyll's 
paper  in  "Nineteenth  Century  Magazine,"  Jan., 
1891,  p.  24).  The  question  arises,  was  this  sub- 
mergence synchronous  with  the  Flood.''  In  dis- 
cussing this  question,  it  is  necessary  to  free  our- 
selves from  the  present  stable  conditions  of  land 
and  water.  Subsidence  and  elevation  seem  to  have 
been  a  part  of  the  continuous  history  of  the  earth 
after  the  Glacial  period.  Oceans  swept  over  parts 
of  what  is  now  dry  land.  And  great  lakes  with 
immense  outlets  covered  large  parts  of  continents. 
In  addition  to  what  has  been  said  on  a  previous 


THE  FLOOD  93 

page   about  the  condition    in   Europe,   it   is   said 
that  the  great  lakes  of  our  own  land  were  one  vast 
body  of    water,  and    the    Mississippi,  fifty  miles 
wide.     This  period  is  called  the  Chaniplain  period 
when  the  lake  which  gives  the  names,  must  have 
reached  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson  River  Val- 
ley, and  the   St.   Lawrence    was    an   arm   of  the 
ocean,  five  hundred  feet  deep  at  Montreal.     It  was 
probably  in  this  period  that  the  great  loess  de- 
posits along  the  banks  of  the  Hoang-ho  in  China 
were  made  (Dana's  Geology,  pp.  354  and  661). 
Of  course  with  these  floods,  the  erosion  of  river 
beds  was  greater  than  now.      But  there  was  an- 
other  force   in   prominent    action,    and    that    is 
earthquakes.      Not  only  was   there  the  upheaval 
of  mountain  ranges,  the  twisting  and  scattering 
of  rocks,  but  also  change  of  river  channels,  which 
have  been  made  more  complete  by  the  action  of 
water.     The  great  canons  of  the  Rockies  and  the 
present  channel  of  the  Hudson  River  through  the 
Highlands  testify  to  the  mighty  power,  which  was 
so  prevalent  at  that  time  all  over  the  earth.     We 
would  not  therefore  confound  this  period  of  great 
floods,  great  convulsions,  upheaving  of  mountain 
ranges,  digging  out  channels   of  rivers,   fashion- 
ing soil  and  climate,  with  the  period  of  a  com- 
pleted earth  and  that  milder  and  shorter  catas- 
trophe of  the  Noachian  Deluge,  when  man  had 
been  placed  in  possession   of  his  abode  and  was 
punished  for  his  sin. 

It   is   to   be   acknowledged   then   that   this    view 


94  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

of  the  succession  of  events  after  the  Glacial 
period  makes  it  a  little  uncertain  about  ascribing 
the  presence  of  marine  shells  and  other  marks  of 
inundation  to  these  earlier  subsidences  or  to  the 
Noachian  Deluge.  There  is,  for  example,  in  the 
Hudson  River  Valley  evidence  of  drift  of  clay, 
gravel  and  sand  under  water,  belonging  appar- 
ently to  the  convulsive  period  after  the  Glacial, 
when  a  way  was  opened  to  the  sea  through  the 
granite  of  the  Highlands.  Later  than  this,  if  our 
conceptions  are  correct,  comes  a  destruction  of 
large  animals  different  from  those  destroyed  by 
glacial  cold — such,  for  example,  as  the  Mastodon 
found  near  the  surface,  and  having  in  their 
stomachs  undigested  twigs  of  spruce  and  fir. 
(Dana,  p.  567).  This  looks  like  an  effect  of  the 
waters  of  the  Flood,  and  if  corroborated  by  other 
evidence  would  be  an  argument  for  the  universal- 
ity of  the  Flood.  For  the  Mastodon  was  an  in- 
habitant of  Europe  as  well  as  of  America.  But 
the  time  has  not  come  to  be  positive  about  the  uni- 
versality of  the  Deluge  from  Geology  alone. 

Let  us  proceed,  therefore,  to  consider  other  ar- 
guments for  its  universality  and  also  such  objec- 
tions as  it  seems  necessary  to  notice.  (1)  It  is 
said  by  some  that  there  is  not  water  enough  on 
the  earth  to  cover  the  highest  mountains.  This 
is  doubtless  true  if  we  suppose  that  an  extra 
quantity  was  needed  to  cover  mountains  five  miles 
high.  But  the  subsidences  of  the  land,  which 
have   often   occurred   at  different  periods   of  the 


THE  FLOOD  95 

world's  history  would  solve  that  problem.  The 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,  as 
well  as  accompanied  with  a  continued  and  heavy 
rain   fall. 

(2)  Another  difficulty  is  the  size  of  the  ark 
and  the  number  of  animals  to  be  accommodated. 
But  it  was  evidently  constructed  for  its  carrying 
capacity.  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it 
was  built  on  the  plan  of  him  who  knew  what  was 
needed,  and  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  so  much 
of  animal  life  as  he  did  not  wish  to  be  destroyed. 

(3)  In  connection  with  this  gathering  of  ani- 
mals to  the  ark,  there  comes  the  question,  how 
wide  was  the  range  from  which  they  were  gath- 
ered.? From  the  immediate  vicinity  it  would  not 
be  a  matter  of  great  difficulty.  But  when  seas 
had  to  be  crossed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Marsupial 
or  Kangaroo  family,  from  Australia,  or  the  North 
American  bison  or  the  Armadillo  of  South 
America  or  the  limited  range,  say  of  birds  of 
Paradise;  and  then  back  again  to  their  former 
habitat,  without  leaving  some  trace  of  their  origin 
where  the  Deluge  is  known  to  have  occurred,  the 
difficulty  assumes  proportions  which  has  led  not 
a  few  to  contend  for  a  limited  rather  than  a  uni- 
versal Deluge.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that 
the  existing  species  of  all  these  animals,  is  not 
more  than  one-third  the  size  of  those  that  have 
passed  away.  "In  South  America  over  one  hun- 
dred species  of  extinct  Quaternary  quadrupeds 
have   been    made   out."      (Dana,   p.    568).      This 


96         THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

Quaternary  period  is  the  period  of  man,  but  how 
early  in  it  he  was  created,  and  whether  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  larger  animals  was  owing  to  the 
Flood  or  to  previous  subsidences ;  and  if  to  the 
Flood,  how  the  present  species  reached  their  pres- 
ent habitat,  are  questions  which  are  still  under 
discussion. 

(4)  Those  who  hold  to  a  limited  Deluge  also 
hold  that  there  is  no  hiatus  or  break  in  the  civili- 
zation before  and  after  the  Flood.  It  would  seem 
as  though  this  should  be  the  case,'  and  possibly  if 
more  thorough  investigation  were  made  with  this 
thought  in  view,  such  break  would  be  found.  But 
it  is  remarkable  that  in  the  Scripture  narrative 
where  the  punishment  is  sent  to  correct  the  evil  in 
man,  there  seems  but  little  break  in  the  tendency 
to  idolatry.  Noah  lived  after  the  Flood,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  must  have  been  a  wor- 
shipper of  Jehovah  all  his  days,  but  his  descend- 
ants went  sadly  astray,  with  the  exception  of 
such  sporadic  cases  as  Melchisedec,  and  probably 
the  patriarch  Job. 

The  idea  of  a  limited  Deluge  is  followed  by  two 
classes  of  expositors.  One  class,  seeing  the  diffi- 
culty about  the  distribution  of  animals  in  gath- 
ering them  over  seas  and  sending  them  back  to 
their  former  habitat,  have  adopted  the  view  that 
man  where  he  existed  (that  is,  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  Euphrates  basins)  was  overtaken  and 
punished  by  the  Flood,  but  the  rest  of  the  world 
was  undisturbed,  and  that  this   answered  all  the 


THE  FLOOD  97 

purposes  intended  as  a  puiiishincnt  upon  man. 
The  language  of  universality  was  used  from  the 
writer's  standpoint,  as  Paul  speaks  of  the  gospel 
as  preached  to  every  creature  under  heaven  (Col. 
7:28).  There  is  no  intention  on  their  part  of 
denying  the  original   record. 

Another  class  of  expositors — represented  by 
Canon  Driver — go  still  further,  and  maintain 
that  the  true  origin  of  the  Biblical  narrative 
about  the  Flood  is  found  in  the  Babylonian  story, 
and  that  it  was  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
the  Tigris  Euphrates  valley.  It  is  true  that  the 
Babylonian  story  has  many  points  in  common 
with  the  Biblical  statement,  as  the  gathering  of 
animals,  the  sending  out  of  birds.  But  it  falls 
far  short  in  not  recognizing  one  God  and  the 
great  purpose  for  which  the  judgment  was  sent. 
In  the  Bible  it  is  a  punishment  for  sin  with  the 
great  typical  idea  of  escape  through  faith  and 
obedience  to  God's  command.  In  the  Babylonian 
story  it  is  the  mere  saving  of  life  when  a  city  was 
to  be  destro3fed  through  the  anger  of  the  gods. 
And  in  the  details  the  ship  is  seven  stories  like  a 
pagoda  on  land  with  the  unnecessary  additions 
of  rudder  and  mast,  while  the  ark  is  simply  a 
floating  refuge  with  the  proper  three  stories,  and 
designed  for  its  carrying  capacity.  And  if  the 
Flood  was  limited  to  the  Euphrates  Valley,  why 
was  it  necessary  to  gather  not  only  clean  but  un- 
clean animals  and  creeping  things,  since  the  earth 
could  have  been  easily  supplied  with  such  crea- 
tures from  the  regions  not  overflowed. 


98  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

But  more  directly  let  us  notice  the  arguments 
for  the  universality  of  the  Deluge. 

PROOFS  OF  UNIVERSALITY 

1.  It  was  universal  with  respect  to  man.  This 
is  hardly  assented  to,  by  those  who  hold  that  the 
Flood  was  confined  to  the  Euphrates  basin.  But 
those  who  think  it  was  limited  with  respect  to 
animal  life  generally  believe  that  it  reached  all 
mankind,  as  it  was  sent  upon  them  as  a  punish- 
ment for  their  sin.  The  impression  in  reading  the 
Bible  is  that  as  it  only  relates  events  connected 
with  nations  residing  in  Egypt,  Eastern  Europe 
and  Western  Asia,  that  man  had  not  penetrated 
to  the  regions  beyond.  But  when  we  consider 
that  two  thousand  years  probably  elapsed  between 
Creation  and  the  Flood,  and  that  the  increase  of 
the  human  family  with  their  long  lives  was  far 
greater  than  at  present,  the  conclusion  of  Prof. 
Townsend  that  the  population  of  the  globe  was 
up  among  Lhe  billions,  seems  correct.  (See  above, 
p.  127).  We  know  that  the  Israelites  increased 
in  two  hundred  and  fifteen  years  from  seventy 
souls  to  six  hundred  thousand  armed  men,  or 
about  two  millions,  all  told.  It  is  necessary  there- 
fore to  correct  our  first  impressions  about  the 
limited  part  of  the  globe  occupied  by  man  in  the 
time  of  Noah,  and  suppose  that  the  race  was 
spread  abroad  wherever  there  was  the  means  of 
subsistence.  Ships  may  have  been  no  new  thing 
when  the  ark  was  built,  as  recent  discoveries  have 
shown  that  they  were  not  in  Solomon's  time. 


THE  FLOOD  99 

2.  A  second  argument  in  favor  of  the  univer- 
sality of  the  Deluge  is  the  language  and  thought 
of  the  Bible.  True,  many  have  been  disposed  to 
limit  the  language  to  the  then  known  world.  But 
II.  Peter  3:  5-7  can  only  mean  that  as  the  whole 
material  world  had  been  destroyed  by  water,  so  it 
should  be  b^'  fire.  Strong  as  is  this  language, 
even  more  strong  seems  the  argument  from  the 
evident  thought  of  God  in  revelation.  For  two 
thousand  years  men  were  left  to  see  if  they  would 
seek  after  God.  They  had  the  argument  from  his 
works  spread  out  before  them.  They  dug  for 
iron  and  worked  the  precious  metals,  and  pon- 
dered the  movement  of  star  and  planet  and  fixed 
with  accuracy  the  Solar  year,  and  yet  found  not 
wisdom  (See  Job  28),  except  the  so-called  Sons 
of  God  for  a  time,  and  they  went  astray  with  the 
crowd.  And  beyond  that  the  severe  judgment  of 
the  Flood  was  not  a  remedy  against  the  prevail- 
ing tendency  to  idolatry.  Corruption  was  uni- 
versal. (Ps.  14).  As  corruption  was  universal 
so  was  the  punishment.  The  law  was,  the  soul 
that  sinneth  it  shall  die.  And  so  its  expression 
in  the  type  was  universal.  But  beyond  the  type 
expressed  by  the  universality  of  the  Deluge  came 
another  idea,  and  that  is  of  escape.  This  was 
symbolized  by  the  ark.  As  to  our  first  parents, 
there  was  mercy  in  the  promise  that  the  head  of 
the  serpent  should  be  bruised  by  the  seed  of  the 
woman,  so  to  Noah,  the  second  head  of  the  race, 
came  the  type  of  salvation  in  the  midst  of  de- 
struction. 


100       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

The  conclusion  therefore  which  seems  to  best 
agree  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  is  that  the 
Deluge  was  universal.  The  distribution  of  ani- 
mals over  the  earth's  surface,  the  difficulty  of 
gathering  them  across  seas  and  returning  them  to 
their  former  habitat  without  leaving  a  trace  of 
their  origin  presents  a  difficulty  which  we  know  of 
no  way  of  overcoming.  But  over  against  that  is 
the  destruction  of  a  class  of  animals  represented 
especially  by  the  Mastodon  which  were  evidently 
destroyed,  not  by  glacial  cold  as  were  many  of 
the  huge  carnivorous  beasts,  nor  apparently  by 
later  cataclasms  before  man  was  created,  but  to 
a  later  period,  which  is  represented  by  the 
Noachian  Deluge. 

It  remains  to  look  briefly  at  the  sin,  the  pun- 
ishment, and  the  escape. 

THE  SIN  OF  THE  ANTEDILUVIANS 

The  sin  which  is  specially  mentioned  is  that 
against  the  marriage  relation.  Not  that  there 
were  not  other  sins,  as  for  example,  idolatry, 
which  we  know  from  other  sources  was  conspicu- 
ously prevalent.  But  this  is  singled  out  as  a  sin 
against  the  foundations  of  society,  which  this 
book  is  specially  concerned  in  upholding.  Mar- 
riage between  one  man  and  one  woman  was  the 
primal  order,  as  God  first  instituted  it.  Any 
deviation  from  that  rule  always  brought  disaster 
in  the  household,  and  its  widespread  violation 
would  weaken  the  family  tie,  let  loose  violence  and 


THE  FLOOD  101 

passion,  and  introduce  savagery  and  barbarism 
even  more  quickly  and  directly  than  idolatry. 
Two  particulars  of  this  sin  of  the  Antediluvians 
arc  mentioned:  First,  Polygamy.  They  took  them 
wives,  it  is  said,  of  all  that  they  chose  (6:2). 
The  primal  order  seems  to  have  been  the  custom 
until  the  time  of  Lamech,  the  seventh  from  Adam 
in  the  line  of  Cain.  He  had  two  wives.  In  the 
line  of  Seth,  we  do  not  know  that  there  was  any 
departure  from  the  original  law,  until  this  period. 
Second,  The  ground  of  their  choice  was  not  any 
consideration  of  what  such  marriages  might  lead 
to,  or  whether  it  was  right  in  the  sight  of  God  or 
no,  but  simply  that  they  were  fair.  At  first  the 
result  seemed  favorable.  Their  children  were 
mighty  men — men  of  renown.  In  what  way  their 
might  was  shown,  we  are  not  informed.  But  suc- 
cess does  not  prove  we  are  right.  In  fact  while 
they  were  glorying  in  their  strength  God  was 
grieved  over  their  wickedness.  The  strong  lan- 
guage is  used  that  it  repented  the  Lord  that  he 
had  made  man  on  the  earth  (6:6).  Such  lan- 
guage is  used  from  the  standpoint  of  human  ob- 
servation and  experience.  The  result  had  not 
been  what  might  justly  have  been  expected.  All 
flesh  had  corrupted  its  way.  The  creation  of  the 
highest  being  on  earth  and  placing  him  as  Lord 
over  other  creatures  seemed  to  be  a  failure.  He 
was  not  carrying  out  the  purpose  of  a  being  made 
in  God's  image,  which  would  be  to  keep  the  ani- 
mal, the  material  part  of  his  nature  subject  to 


102       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  spiritual.  Of  course  in  the  great  and  glori- 
ous plan  to  be  unfolded  in  the  ages,  it  was  no 
failure,  but  for  the  present  it  looked  so.  The 
so-called  Sons  of  God  were  one  in  transgression 
with  the  others,  and  hence  the  determination — in 
which  divine  repentance  agrees  with  the  human — • 
to  annul  the  past  and  commence  anew. 

The  punishment  sent  was  not  without  warning. 
There  are  two  interpretations  of  the  phrase,  "Yet 
shall  his  days  be  a  hundred  and  twenty  years" 
(6:3).  One  would  refer  it  to  the  shortening  of 
man's  life,  which  took  place  after  the  Flood.  And 
the  other  that  the  warning  of  the  coming  Flood 
was  given  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  before 
it  actually  took  place.  Some  would  say  that 
Noah  was  engaged  for  that  time  in  building  the 
ark,  and  that  thus  he  was  a  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness both  by  his  words  and  deeds. 

ARK 

The  great  thought  of  mercy  was  specially  rep- 
resented by  the  Ark.  From  this  time  forward  it 
stands  out  as  a  type  of  salvation  from  universal 
and  overwhelming  destruction.  It  is  implied  that 
others  beside  Noah  might  have  availed  themselves 
of  this  refuge  had  they  been  so  inclined.  But 
while  Noah  was  making  preparation  others  of  his 
generation  continued  as  before,  marrying  and 
giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day  he  entered  into 
the  Ark  (Matt.  24:31). 


THE  FLOOD  103 

CLEAN    AND    UNCT-EAN    ANIMALS 

One  specification  about  clean  and  unclean  ani- 
mals may  look  as  though  there  was  an  anticipa- 
tion of  what  took  place  under  the  Mosaic  Dispen- 
sation. But  the  institution  of  sacrifice  necessarily 
drew  the  line  between  those  proper  for  that  ser- 
vice, and  those  that  were  not.  How  far  this  dis- 
tinction went,  we  cannot  say.  But  it  was  prob- 
ably very  much  enlarged  upon  in  the  Levitical 
law. 

As  a  type  of  divine  mercy,  the  Ark  suggests 
these  thoughts:  1.  It  was  salvation  from  punish- 
ment, and  that  punishment  meant  destruction. 
2.  This  salvation  was  safe  and  complete.  It  meant 
more  than  sacrifice,  which  pointed  out  a  way  of 
approach  to  God.  This,  that  there  was  a  new 
world  for  the  saved.  3.  That  the  method,  so  far 
as  Noah  was  concerned,  was  the  same  as  that  by 
which  men  have  been  saved  through  the  ages ; 
and  that  was  by  faith.  4.  As  the  heir  of  the 
righteousness  which  is  by  faith,  Noah  was  made 
the  second  head  of  the  human  family  and  a 
covenant  made  with  him  that  God  would  no  more 
destroy  the  earth  by  water.  The  sign  of  the  cove- 
nant was  the  bow  in  the  cloud,  whether  now  for 
the  first  time  visible,  or  something  already  exist- 
ing which  was  made  the  sign,  we  can  hardly  say. 
5.  That  the  type  was  imperfect,  as  all  types  are, 
and  so  we  have  the  record  of  Noah's  falling  into 
sin.  (See  Fairbank's  "Typology  of  Scripture," 
Vol.  1,  p.  272). 


104        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

MESSIANIC  PROPHECY 

The  sin  of  Noah  was  made  the  occasion  of  the 
second  prophecy  respecting  the  Messiah.  The 
promise  according  to  the  arrangement  of  the 
Hebrew,  is  that  God  shall  enlarge  Japheth  and 
shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  According  to 
this  view,  God  is  the  subject  of  both  verbs.  An- 
other interpretation  is  that  Japheth  shall  dwell  in 
the  tents  of  Shem,  which  however  apparently  true 
in  these  latter  days,  when  European  nations  are 
occupying  Asia,  does  not  seem  to  be  the  refer- 
ence here.  Enlargement  to  Japheth  is  true,  but 
the  great  Messianic  promise  is  to  Shem.  The 
victory  over  the  serpent  is  to  come,  not  merely 
through  the  seed  of  the  woman,  but  through  God's 
dwelling  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  What  that  dwell- 
ing was  to  be  and  how  he  should  come  in  the 
flesh  is  left  for  later  prophecies  Of  the  three  sons 
of  Noah,  Shem  is  pointed  out  as  in  the  line  of 
promise. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE      ETHNOLOGICAL      RECORD      AND 
CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES 

GENESIS,    CHAP.    10    AND    11:    1-10 

The  two  facts  stated  in  this  chapter,  viz.,  the 
ethnological  record  and  the  confusion  of  tongues, 
arc  necessarily   preliminary  and   commend  them- 
selves to  the  ordinary  judgment,  as  the  best  and 
most  truthful  historical   statement  that  could   be 
given  of  the  interval  between  the  Deluge  and  the 
calling  of  Abraham.     It  is     somewhat  of  a  sur- 
prise that  the  attempt  should  be  made  to  throw 
suspicion  on  the  truthfulness  of  this  record;  but  it 
seems  to  follow  as  a  result  from  denying  the  auth- 
enticity of    the  previous  chapters.     When  it  has 
been  granted  that  the  creation  of    man    reaches 
back  thousands  of  years  before  the  Biblical  rec- 
ord— that    there    were   different     race-centers    in- 
stead of  mankind  being  descended  from  a  single 
pair,   and  that   the   Deluge   was    local   instead  of 
universal,    then   we  can   also   believe   that    the   de- 
scendants of    Noah    were    imaginary    persons    and 
the  confusion  of  tongues  a  fundamental  race  dis- 
tinction instead  of  the  confusion  of  one  common 
tongue.     If,  however,  we  hold  to  the  view  that 
the  previous  chapters  are  correct,  then  this  rec- 
ord of  the  nations  is  eminently  satisfactory,  for 
it  gives   (1)   The  great  divisions    of    the  human 
family  as  they  are  recognized  today— the  sons  of 
106 


106       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

Shem  occupying  Asia,  Japheth  Europe,  and  Ham 
Africa.  The  exceptions  which  occur  in  this  dis- 
tribution are  pointed  out  with  sufficient  accuracy 
and  agree  with  the  narrative  of  subsequent  events. 
The  prominent  exceptions  occur  among  the 
earlier  descendants  of  Ham — Canaan  occupied 
Palestine,  until  they  were  dispossessed  by  the 
Children  of  Israel.  Nimrod  also,  the  founder  of 
the  Babylonian  Empire,  the  conqueror  of  Assyria 
and  the  builder  of  Ninevah  was  the  Son  of  Cush 
(10:8-12).  And  yet  into  that  same  region  went 
the  Children  of  Eber,  a  descendant  of  Shem  (v. 
21.)  (2)  Though  many  names  cannot  now  be 
recognized,  yet  many  of  them  agree  with  lands 
and  places  which  have  become  familiar  in  histori- 
cal periods — as  Cush  for  Ethiopia,  Mizraim  for 
Egypt,  Canaan  for  the  primitive  people  of  Pal- 
estine. 

(3)  Babylon,  both  by  Scripture  and  according 
to  human  record,  is  the  first  city  which  was  built 
after  the  Flood — or  was  it  rebuilt?  It  is  certain 
that  the  disposition  to  centralize  there  was  ob- 
noxious to  the  divine  plan.  Why,  is  not  clear.  If 
it  was  to  escape  another  Flood,  when  God  had  as- 
sured Noah  that  it  would  not  take  place,  it  would 
seem  as  though  they  would  have  built  a  tower  on 
a  mountain  instead  of  a  plain.  Could  it  have  been 
in  any  way  an  act  of  defiance  in  rebuilding  cities 
which  had  been  prominent  and  well-known  before 
the  Flood,  and  perhaps  noted  for  their  wicked- 
ness.'^    If  this  supposition  is  tenable  that  the  at- 


CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES  lOT 

tempt  was  to  rebuild  Babylon,  rather  than  first 
found  it,  we  can  easily  account  for  a  chronology 
on  the  part  of  the  Assyrian  Babylonian  Empire 
which  goes  back  to  5000  B.  C 

(2).    THE    BUILDING   OF    BABET,   AND   THE   CON- 
FUSION   OF    TONGUES 

(Genesis  11:  1-10.) 

This  is  the  last  of  the  series  of  great  historical 
facts  recorded  in  the  first  part  of  Genesis.  They 
are  facts  in  the  province  of  nature  which  concern 
all  nations  and  all  parts  of  the  globe.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  sin  was  not  held  in  check  by  the  terrible 
punishment  of  the  Deluge;  much  less  was  it  elim- 
inated from  man's  thought  and  action.  As  the 
race  began  to  multiply,  they  repeated  over  again 
the  evil  of  their  ancestors.  It  was  the  spirit  of 
self-reliance  instead  of  seeking  for  divine  wisdom 
and  guidance.  It  has  been  called  the  birth  of 
heathenism,  if  indeed  its  birth  should  not  be 
traced  back  to  Cain  and  his  descendants.  Nimrod 
the  strong,  the  mighty  hunter,  is  their  leader  and 
representative.  Their  thought  is  expressed  in 
their  saying,  "Let  us  make  a  name."  The  word 
translated  name  is  the  same  with  Shem — who  as 
the  holder  of  the  special  Messianic  promise,  it  is 
thought,  did  not  share  in  the  scheme  for  the  cen- 
tralization of  the  race  in  the  plain  of  Shinar. 

(3)       SPEECH 

The  method  adopted  for  stopping  their  ambi- 


108        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

tious  scheme  was  very  different  from  the  over- 
whelming destruction  of  the  Flood.  How  the 
confusion  of  speech  came  we  can  hardly  tell. 
Speech,  in  the  first  place,  we  suppose  to  have  been 
a  gift  of  God.  There  was  first  the  gift  of 
thought  and  reason,  and  then  the  power  of  ex- 
pression or  the  gift  of  speech.  As  Trench  says, 
"God  did  not  teach  man  words,  as  one  of  us 
teaches  a  parrot,  but  gave  him  the  capacity  and 
then  evoked  the  capacity  which  he  gave."  ("Study 
of  Words,"  p.  15,  quoted  by  Drummond  in  "As- 
cent of  Man,"  p.  178). 

The  latter  writer,  with  other  Evolutionists  be- 
lieves in  the  gradual  development  of  the  vocal  or- 
gans, through  different  embryonic  stages,  from  the 
lower  animals,  until  the  power  of  speech  was 
reached.  On  the  other  hand,  our  view  of  the  Bib- 
lical statement  is  that  the  perfect  man,  made  in 
the  image  of  God,  had  the  power  of  expression 
given,  as  well  as  reason  and  capacity  of  thought. 
This  power  of  expression,  tested  by  man's  nam- 
ing the  animals,  was  undoubtedly  developed  and 
added  to,  as  experience  demanded.  This  became 
the  one  language  of  earth  before  the  Flood,  and 
after,  until  the  building  of  Babel.  What  that 
language  was,  whether  wholly  lost,  or  one  of  the 
three  great  family  stock  of  languages,  the  record 
does  not  determine.  It  is  something  that  the  thou- 
sand different  languages  now  existing  on  the  earth 
can  be  reduced  to  three  groups — the  Semitic,  the 
Aryan  and  the  Turanian.     Taylor  Lewis  likens 


CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES  109 

the  relationship  of  these  three  to  tlie  geological 
formation  of  the  rocks — the  Semitic  representing 
the  primitive  formation — the  Aryan  the  stratified 
formation,  broken  yet  presenting  much  clearness 
of  outline  and  direction,  while  the  Turanian  is 
more  like  confused  volcanic  masses  or  solitary 
boulders  scattered  here  and  there,  yet  showing 
marks  of  the  localities  from  whence  they  came,  or 
some  correspondence  in  the  very  irregularities  of 
their  fracture."  (In  Lange's  "Genesis,"  p.  373). 
As  an  example  of  this  latter  class  might  be  men- 
tioned the  language  of  the  Hottentots  or  Bush- 
men of  South  Africa,  which  is  described  as  con- 
sisting of  "deep  aspirated  gutturals,  other  harsh 
consonants,  and  a  multitude  of  ugly  inimitable 
clicks."  (See  "Missionary  Herald"  for  1850, 
p.  173). 

This  general  relationship  of  different  lan- 
guages has  not  little  weight  in  proving  the  unity  of 
the  race.  Races  which  have  been  thought  to  be 
too  antagonistic  to  be  related,  have  been  found  to 
be  near  of  kin.  Thus  through  the  Sanscrit,  the 
ancient  and  dead  language  of  the  Hindoo,  it  has 
been  found  that  we  and  they  belong  to  the  same 
group,  the  Indo-European.  This  seems  more  re- 
markable when  it  is  remembered  that  between 
these  people  of  kindred  languages,  there  is  inter- 
spersed a  dividing  sea  of  Semitic  languages  and 
peoples  represented  by  the  ancient  Syriac,  He- 
brew and  Arabic  with  their  cognate  languages. 
In   language  the  Hindoo   is   a  nearer  brother  to 


110        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  Anglo-Saxon  than  either  is  to  the  Arabs  or 
Jews.  (See  Taylor  Lewis  in  Lange's  "Genesis," 
p.  379). 

Another  connecting  link  is  with  the  Malays 
and  the  Polynesian  group  of  Islands.  For  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  this  connection,  Wm. 
Von  Humboldt  investigated  the  Kawi — a  lan- 
guage of  Java,  and  found  that  it  could  be 
traced  back  to  the  Sanscrit  as  its  root  and  source. 
There  are  remains  of  temples  in  Java  which  owe 
their  origin  to  India,  but  in  the  language  legends 
and  customs  of  the  people,  there  is  a  connecting 
influence  dating  further  back.  (See  "Princeton 
Review,"  1852,  pp.  290  and  427). 

To  this  may  be  added  the  testimony  of  Dr. 
Codrington  who  has  made  vocabularies  of  forty 
of  the  Mulanesian  languages,  and  says  that  they 
are  not  only  homogeneous,  but  a  branch  of  one 
great  family,  including  the  Malayan  and  Poly- 
nesian. Judge  Fernander,  for  over  thirty  years 
a  resident  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  published  a 
volume  (Furbush  &  Co.,  London,  1885)  giving  a 
comparative  vocabulary  of  the  Polynesian  and 
Indo-European  languages.  If  these  views  are 
correct,  an  affinity  is  established  with  the  San- 
scrit for  all  those  diverse  and  isolated  regions  ex- 
tending from  Madagascar  to  within  forty  degrees 
of  the  west  coast  of  South  America.  The  conclu- 
sion of  Prof.  W.  D.  Whitney,  who  is  known  as 
one  of  the  most  cautious  of  philologists,  is  per- 
haps  as   far  as  we    can    go,    with    our    present 


CONFUSION  OF  TONGUES  111 

knowledge.  While  he  would  disclaim  for  lingu- 
istic science  the  power  to  prove  that  the  human 
race  in  the  beginning  formed  one  Society,  yet  he 
says,  "it  is  even  far  more  demonstrable,  that  it  can 
never  prove  the  variety  of  human  races  and  ori- 
gins." ("Life  and  Growth  of  Language,"  p.  269). 

In  the  breaking  up  the  concentration  of  the 
race,  on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  we  have  one  of  those 
divine  acts  which  show  the  varied  control  which 
God  exercises  over  the  nations.  Men  go  on  in 
their  own  methods  for  a  time,  developing  arts 
and  industry  and,  it  may  be,  plunging  into  sin, 
thinking  God  has  no  control  over  human  affairs, 
and  then  like  an  earthquake,  comes  a  new  force, 
showing  that  God  governs,  and  that  his  plans 
must  be  carried  out.  This  was  the  way  at  the 
Flood.  More  quiet,  yet  equally  effectual,  was  the 
confounding  of  human  speech.  Still  more  noise- 
less and  yet  even  more  important  was  the  calling 
of  Abraham. 

In  confounding  the  speech  of  men,  the  thought 
of  God  was  not  merely  to  stop  the  town-builders, 
but  to  scatter  the  Sons  of  Noah  to  people  the 
earth.  As  far  as  a  great  structure  was  concerned. 
Babel  was  eclipsed  not  long  after,  if  not  in  extent, 
certainly  in  durability,  by  the  great  Pyramid. 
This  covered  thirteen  and  one-half  acres,  and  was 
480  feet  in  perpendicular  height.  Some  give  the 
date  of  its  erection  as  about  4000  B.  C.  A  more 
conservative  estimate  is  2190  B.  C.  (See  Piazzi 
Smith's  book  on    the    "Great    Pyramid.")     This 


112        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

latter  date  corresponds  to  the  time  between  the 
confusion  of  languages  and  the  call  of  Abraham. 
Other  great  buildings  and  temples  followed  soon 
after,  both  in  Babylon  and  Egypt,  showing  that 
man  was  not,  in  those  early  days,  lacking  in  arch- 
itectural skill.  And  the  unearthing  of  libraries 
with  their  clay  tablets,  has  shown  the  great  prog- 
ress in  literature,  even  in  the  more  recondite  labor 
of  forming  codes  of  laws.  These  indications  in 
the  way  of  buildings  and  literature,  show  that 
the  benumbing  and  demoralizing  tendency  of 
heathenism  had  not  yet  very  largely  aflFected  the 
race.  After  the  confusion  of  tongues  and  the 
consequent  separation  and  hostility  of  tribes, 
there  would  be  a  settling  down  into  barbarism  in 
many  lands.  The  process  is  one  that  has  been  re- 
peating itself — so  that  the  homes  of  the  greatest 
civilization  have  become  the  lair  of  wild  beasts ; 
and  the  scattered  inhabitants  are  only  able  to 
build  hovels  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  palaces,  where 
their  fathers  dwelt.  Progress  there  has  been  with 
the  race,  especially  since  the  purpose  of  God 
began  it,  in  Abraham  and  afterwards  in  Christ, 
but  it  has  kept  to  no  country  or  people,  while 
other  cults  look  to  the  past  for  the  days  of  their 
glory. 


PART  II 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS  IN  GRACE 

FIRST.     WITH  THE  INDIVIDUAL 

SECOND.      WITH  THE  FAMILY 

THIRD.     WITH  THE  NATION 


CHAPTER   IX 

GRACE   WITH   RESPECT   TO   THE   INDI- 
VIDUAL—THE CALLING  OF  ABRA- 
HAM ON  THE  DIVINE  SIDE 

GENESIS   12. 

Nothing  is  more  obvious,  even  to  the  ordinary 
reader  of  the  Bible,  than  that  at  the  calling  of 
Abraham,  we  open  a  new  chapter  in  the  record  of 
God's  dealings  with  man.  The  eleven  chapters 
of  Genesis  before  we  reach  his  time  are  brief. 
There  is  a  short  account  of  the  two  thousand  and 
more  years  in  which  we  have  the  story  of  Crea- 
tion, the  Fall,  the  Deluge,  and  the  Confusion  of 
Tongues.  And  then  a  verse  or  two  gives  the  bio- 
graphy of  those  men  who  lived  so  long,  Adam 
and  Noah,  those  two  fathers  of  our  race,  and  liv- 
ing each  nearly  a  thousand  years,  have  but  brief 
mention.  But  when  we  come  to  Abraham,  who 
is  in  one  sense  our  spirtual  head,  it  is  entirely 
different.  When  we  ask  the  reason  for  this,  it 
is  not  far  to  seek.  It  is  not  the  length  of  his 
days,  for  he  lived  but  a  few  years,  as  compared 
with  his  fathers.  It  is  not  that  he  was  a  great 
warrior,  or  a  great  builder  like  Nimrod.  Many 
migrations  went  out  from  the  valley  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, but  this  of  Abraham's  is  the  only  one 
that  attracts  the  inspired  historian.  It  was 
simply  that  he  was  called  of  God  and  responded  to 
that  call.  It  was  but  right  and  natural  that  man 
115 


116        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

made  in  the  image  of  God,  should  seek  his  fellow- 
ship and  presence.  But  this  he  failed  to  do.  The 
independent  will,  which  was  a  part  of  the  image  of 
God,  showed  its  alienation  as  soon  as  he  had 
fallen  by  hiding  from  him.  And  though  there 
was  a  promise  of  restoration  and  victory,  the  first 
born  of  Adam  was  a  murderer.  As  men  multi- 
plied they  all  went  astray.  Even  the  severe  judg- 
ment of  wiping  out  the  race,  with  the  exception 
of  one  family  and  the  shortening  their  days,  did 
not  restrain  wickedness  or  lead  men  to  seek  after 
God.  And  so,  after  the  long  trial  and  waiting 
to  see  if  any  would  seek  him,  God  reverses  the 
process  and  begins  the  search  after  man.  This  is 
Revelation  beginning  in  the  call  of  Abraham, 
passing  on  to  the  training  of  a  peculiar  people, 
the  coming  of  the  God-man  who  is  the  restorer  of 
the  divine  image  and  the  head  of  a  spiritual  race 
as  Adam  was  of  the  earthly  natural  race.  This 
new  race  is  typified  and  represented  by  Abraham 
the  father  of  the  faithful,  to  whom  came  the  prom- 
ise, and  whose  faith  was  accounted  for  righteous- 
ness, and  in  Jacob  who  though  weak  as  a  man, 
was  through  grace  a  prince  with  God,  and  in  Jo- 
seph, whose  exaltation  in  Egypt  foreshadowed 
the  triumph  of  the  new  vital  principle  over  the 
powers  of  darkness. 

(1)     INSUFFICIENCY    OF    NATURAL    RELIGION 

In  God's  calling  of  Abraham  we  see,  first,  the 
insufficiency  of  natural  religion  or  of  any  process 


GRACE  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL     117 

of  evolution  by  which  man  through  his  own 
strength  and  wisdom  can  reach  a  clear  and  cor- 
rect view  of  God.  Much  less  can  he  hope  for  sal- 
vation through  any  effort  of  his  own.  God  alone 
can  say  whether  man  is  to  be  saved,  and  if  so, 
how.  As  far  as  we  can  interpret  God's  plans, 
man  seems  to  have  been  left  after  the  Fall  to  his 
own  desires,  to  see  if  he  would  seek  after  God.  In- 
stead of  that,  they  all  went  astray.  If  we  seek 
for  the  reason,  why  men  who  built  Babylon  and 
Nippur  and  who  had  the  civilization  and  litera- 
ture found  in  their  ruins,  and  who  also  had  such 
exceptional  representatives  of  the  true  faith  as 
Melchisedck  and  the  patriarch  Job,  how  they 
could  turn  aside  to  idolatry,  we  can  only  find  the 
reason  in  the  moral  obliquity  of  the  race.  As 
Adam  hid  in  the  garden  from  God,  so  his  descend- 
ants did  not  like  to  retain  in  their  minds  the 
knowledge  of  God.  (Rom.  1).  At  first  men  seem 
to  have  deified  even  Aurora  and  the  powers  of 
nature  as  fire,  but  these  did  not  rebuke  sin  any 
more  than  Baal  and  Astarti  or  the  four-footed 
beasts,  which  they  substituted  in  place  of  the  true 
God.  The  downward  tendency  towards  gross 
idolatry,  superstition  and  savagery  is  plain  and 
manifest  the  world  over.  Partly  civilized  peoples 
look  back  to  a  higher  condition  and  to  renowned 
sages  whom  they  never  expect  to  equal.  The 
Egyptians  of  today  could  not  build  the  Pyramids. 
The  Chinamen  of  this  century  would  not  think  of 
equalling    Confucius   and   Mencius.      The    stupid 


118        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

priests  of  Buddha  walk  among  shrines  and  tem- 
ples erected  by  the  active  missionaries  of  their 
faith,  who  had  an  eye  to  beauty  and  a  zeal  and 
ability  in  propagating  their  system  which  has  long 
since  died  out.  The  thought  that  has  saved  the 
world  from  the  grossest  heathenism,  was  in  the 
divine  mind,  and  first  began  to  be  carried  out  in 
the  call  of  Abraham. 

(2)     THE    MESSIANIC    PROMISE 

This  calling  was  to  the  reception  of  the  Messi- 
anic promise,  that  in  him,  that  is,  in  Abraham, 
should  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed 
(12:3).  Coupled  with  that  was  the  promise  to 
make  of  him,  a  great  nation.  Here  was  a  great 
advance  upon  the  promise  to  our  first  parents. 
That  spoke  of  victory  over  the  serpent,  but  here 
in  addition,  was  a  blessing  to  all  the  families  of 
the  earth.  In  one  sense  it  was  restricted  to  Abra- 
ham and  his  seed,  but  only  for  the  sake  of  a  great 
blessing  to  all  the  families  of  the  earth.  It  was 
the  beginning  of  the  gospel  of  glad  tidings,  God 
had  done  good  in  providing  a  home  for  man  and  in 
giving  him  the  blessings  of  his  Providence,  but  he 
had  been  obliged  to  punish  man  for  his  transgres- 
sion. Now  he  would  reveal  attributes  of  love  and 
mercy,  as  they  had  never  been  revealed  before. 

(3)     COVENANT    OF    CIRCUMCISION 

In  order  to  make  this  promise  more  binding 
God  made  a  covenant  by  which  he  as  the  main 


GRACE  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL     119 

part,  agreed  to  do  certain  things  to  Abraham, 
who,  on  his  part,  was  to  signify  his  acceptance  by 
receiving  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant.  This 
seal  of  circumcision  has  been  a  witness  through 
the  ages  of  God's  call  to  Abraham,  and  the  prom- 
ise made  that  his  seed  should  be  God's  people. 
The  seal  of  the  covenant  had  this  significance, 
that  as  man  created  in  the  divine  image  should 
have  dominion  over  the  animal  within,  as  well  as 
the  animals  without — so  in  circumcision  the  flesh 
with  its  appetites  and  passions  should  be  held  in 
check. 

(4)     PROVIDENTIAL   GUIDANCE 

This  covenant  on  the  part  of  God  insured 
Providential  guidance,  instruction  and  discipline. 
A  large  portion  of  the  narrative  is  taken  up  with 
the  details  of  this  guidance.  It  was  both  present 
care  and  provision  for  the  future.  A  brief  sum- 
mary is  all  that  can  be  attempted.  It  included 
(1)  all  the  ordinary  acts  and  duties  of  life,  as 
well  as  those  which  we  would  call  more  spiritual 
and  religious.  Hagar's  eyes  were  opened  to  be- 
hold a  well  of  water  for  the  relief  of  herself  and 
son,  Abraham's  servant  was  guided  in  the  selec- 
tion of  a  wife  for  his  master's  son.  Jacob's  self- 
ish life  was  beaten  out  of  him,  not  only  by  visions 
of  angels,  but  by  a  long  course  of  discipline  with 
his  still  more  selfish  uncle.  Joseph  was  exalted 
to  be  ruler  of  Egypt  and  saviour  of  his  people, 
not  by  one  sudden  step  from  the  shepherd's  staff 


120        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

to  the  royal  purple,  but  through  slavery,  severe 
temptation,  prison  and  neglect,  until  his  spirit 
was  chastened  into  strong  dependence  on  God. 
And  then  how  important  towards  the  ultimate 
end,  were  minute  and  apparently  unimportant  de- 
tails, such  as  the  sending  of  the  Ishmaelites  at 
the  right  juncture,  in  turning  the  purpose  of  Jo- 
seph's brethren  and  taking  him  to  Egypt.  Then 
the  treacherous  memory  of  the  chief-butler  and 
the  recalling  of  his  obligation  after  two  years  had 
passed,  shows  how  all  things,  even  the  hidden 
workings  of  the  human  mind,  are  under  the  di- 
vine control.  And  yet  (2)  this  control  or  guid- 
ance, does  not  interfere  with  the  free  agency  of 
the  human  actors.  The  brethren  of  Joseph,  for 
example,  thought  they  were  accomplishing  their 
purpose.  They  did  their  wicked  act,  told  their 
lie  to  their  father,  felt  the  remorse,  which  natu- 
rally followed  their  cruelty  and  deceit.  And  still 
out  of  their  evil  doings  God  brought  about  the 
good  result  of  saving  much  people  alive.  (3) 
Though  this  guidance  was  not  limited  to  occasions 
when  it  was  sought  or  asked  for,  yet  it  was  often 
given  in  answer  to  prayer.  Providence  means 
seeing  before  and  a  perfect  readiness  to  meet  all 
emergencies  in  advance  as  well  as  after  they 
have  arisen.  This  anticipatory  part  of  the  great 
scheme  helps  us  in  understanding  that  petition 
and  answers  to  petition,  are  parts  of  a  foreor- 
dained plan  and  purpose,  which  God  is  carrying 
out  in  the  history  of  individuals  and  nations.     He 


GRACE  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL     121 

wants  his  people  to  come  into  fellowship  with  him, 
to  ask  and  receive.  He  protects  from  harm,  as 
when  Laban  pursued  after  Jacob,  but  in  the 
great  crisis  of  his  life,  when  a  brother's  wrath 
was  to  be  appeased,  there  was  the  wrestling,  the 
urgent  entreaty,  and  the  direct  answer  to  his  re- 
quest. Thus  prayer  was  honored — the  sup- 
planter  became  a  prince  with  God,  and  the  scheme 
of  Providence  included  an  apparent  contradiction, 
in  yielding  to  the  wants  and  supplications  of  the 
human,  (4)  Another  fact  needs  to  be  noticed 
about  this  guidance,  and  that  is,  it  was  marked 
and  peculiar  towards  the  people  of  God.  It  is 
said  in  the  Psalms  "He  suffered  no  man  to  do 
them  wrong;  yea,  he  reproved  kings  for  their 
sakes"  (105:  14).  Abimelech  and  his  friends  who 
came  to  Isaac  at  Beersheba  said,  "We  saw  cer- 
tainly that  the  Lord  was  with  thee,"  and  therefore 
they  wished  to  make  an  oath  and  covenant,  be- 
cause "thou  art  now  blessed  of  the  Lord"  (Gen. 
26:  28).  This  special  favor  is  made  very  plain 
in  the  narrative.  A  distinction  is  made  even  be- 
tween Laban  and  Jacob — the  latter  receiving 
more  largely  of  the  gifts  of  Providence — so  that 
he  increased  exceedingly  and  had  much  cattle  and 
maid-servants  and  men-servants  and  camels  and 
asses"  (30:43).  The  same  fact  was  exemplified 
in  the  brothers  Jacob  and  Esau,  where  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  two — the  one  the  child  of 
promise  and  the  other  not — is  so  great,  that  it  is 
said,  "Jacob    have  I    loved,    and    Esau    have  I 


122       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

hated."  The  whole  record  carries  this  impression 
that  it  was  written  for  the  sake  of  the  covenant 
people.  All  the  others  are  mentioned  inciden- 
tally, and  as  their  history  is  interwoven  with  that 
of  Israel.  When  Egypt  was  blessed  and  the  fam- 
ine was  in  other  lands,  the  pivot  around  which 
these  events  revolved  was  the  bringing  Jacob  and 
his  sons  into  Egypt  and  saving  them  alive. 

The  discrimination  thus  shown,  was  not  be- 
cause of  the  intrinsic  goodness  of  the  parties  so 
chosen.  Jacob,  for  example,  was  rightly  called 
a  supplanter.  He  readily  joined  in  the  deceit  to 
rob  his  brother  of  his  father's  blessing.  And 
though  strictly  honest  in  his  dealings  with  Laban, 
he  looked  out  sharply  for  his  own  interests.  And 
yet  upon  him  was  conferred  the  blessings  of  the 
covenant.  His  sons  also,  with  the  exception  of 
Joseph,  were  anything  but  exemplary  young  men. 
Envy,  murder,  lust  and  revenge  were  in  the  list 
of  their  crimes.  These  things  are  clearly  and 
frankly  recorded,  that  we  may  see  that  it  is  by 
grace  we  are  saved,  and  not  by  our  own  good 
works ;  and  also  that  we  as  sinners  may  be  encour- 
aged to  trust  in  the  covenant  and  promise  of  God. 
This  fact  remains  clear  and  unmistakable  that 
God  in  his  Providential  guidance,  has  special  care 
for  his  people.  They  are  the  children,  for  whom 
he  builds  the  house,  to  whom  he  gives  the  educa- 
tion, and  who  are  to  receive  the  inheritance.  This 
lesson  taught  to  the  Patriarchs  runs  through  the 
whole  Bible.     The  church  is  the  bride,  the  chosen 


GRACE  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL     123 

people,  the  seed  corn,  through  whom  the  families 
of  the  earth  are  to  be  blessed.  The  practical  les- 
son is  not  to  find  fault  with  this  guidance,  because 
it  is  special  in  its  kindness,  care  and  gifts,  but  so 
to  place  ourselves  in  covenant  relation  to  God 
that  we  shall  be  sharers  in  his  bounty.  God's  spe- 
cial love  was  in  this  beginning  of  the  gospel,  con- 
fined to  a  single  individual  and  then  to  his  family 
and  seed.  But  it  was  that  the  families  of  the 
earth  might  be  blessed  in  him.  The  outflow  of 
love  is  to  all — Jew  and  Gentile — to  the  spiritual 
not  to  the  natural  seed  of  Abraham.  If  we  listen 
to  the  call  of  God,  we  can  be  heirs  of  the  prom- 
ise. 

(5)  Another  thought  in  connection  with  this 
care  and  guidance  on  the  part  of  God,  was  the 
clearer  light  thrown  upon  the  meaning  of  sacri- 
fice. At  the  very  first,  it  was  made  plain  that 
sacrifice  was  not  a  mere  thank-offering,  but  one  of 
the  firstlings  of  the  flock,  where  in  some  way  not 
revealed,  life  must  go  for  life.  Fuller  teachings 
seem  to  have  been  purposely  reserved  until  the 
occasion  had  arisen.  This  was  furnished  by  the 
command  of  God  to  Abraham  to  take  his  only  son 
Isaac  to  offer  him  upon  the  mountain,  afterwards 
to  be  used  as  a  site  for  temple  offerings.  Isaac 
as  the  promised  seed,  and  so  representing  the 
Jewish  race,  or  more  generally  the  spiritual  seed 
of  Abraham,  was  laid  upon  the  altar,  showing 
that  he  deserved  to  die,  and  that  he  was  only 
saved  by  the  substitution  of  a  victim  appointed 
in  his  place. 


124        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

The  position  of  man  therefore,  as  represented 
by  Isaac,  was  that  of  condemnation — deserving 
death,  and  only  saved  by  a  substitute.  Whether 
a  lamb  could  take  this  place  or  not,  or  whether 
it  was  a  type  of  another  and  better  victim,  was 
not  so  clear.  It  was  for  the  time,  the  appointed 
substitute  and  they  had  to  wait  to  understand 
what  the  type  signified — whether  a  lamb,  or  some 
one  who  could  more  adequately  take  our  place. 
While  we  see  the  mercy,  which  Abraham  saw  in 
providing  a  lamb  instead  of  his  son,  we  are  to 
look  further  and  see  mercy  meeting  justice,  assent- 
ing to  its  claims,  fulfilling  all  the  demands  of  the 
law  and  yet  rescuing  the  guilty.  It  is  a  substi- 
tution of  the  Creator  for  the  creature,  of  the  holy 
for  the  sinful,  of  the  Son  of  God — the  Isaac  of 
the  father's  heart — for  man,  deserving  wrath  and 
condemnation. 


CHAPTER  X 

CALLING  OF  ABRAHAM  FROM  THE 
HUMAN  SIDE 

So  far  we  have  been  looking  at  the  call  of 
Abraham  from  the  divine  side.  We  need  to  see 
the  response  in  the  human  heart.  Before  looking, 
however,  at  those  spiritual  characteristics,  which 
reveal  to  us  the  excellency  of  Abraham  as  the 
father  of  the  faithful,  there  are  personal  features 
which  show  us  the  man  as  he  lived  in  his  tents  in 
those  olden  times.  Stanley  in  his  "History  of  the 
Jewish  Church"  (Sect.  1,  p.  12),  says  the  mi- 
gration of  Abraham  from  Mesopotamia  differed 
but  little  in  its  external  aspects  from  a  Bedouin 
chief  in  modern  times,  starting  with  his  family, 
his  droves  and  his  servants  on  some  journey  to  a 
distant  land.  "There  are  their  flocks  of  sheep 
and  goats,  and  the  asses  moving  underneath  the 
towering  forms  of  the  camels.  The  chief  is  there 
amidst  the  stir  of  movement,  or  resting  at  noon 
within  his  black  tent,  marked  out  from  the  rest, 
by  his  cloak  of  brilliant  scarlet,  by  the  fillet  of 
rope  which  binds  the  loose  handkerchief  round  his 
head,  by  the  spear  which  he  holds  in  his  hand  to 
guide  the  march  and  fix  the  encampment.  The 
chief's  wife,  the  princess  of  the  tribe,  is  there  in 
her  own  tent,  to  make  the  cakes  and  prepare  the 
usual  meal  of  milk  and  butter,  the  slave  or  the 
child  is  ready  to  bring  in  the  red  lentil  soup  for 
125 


126        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  weary  hunter,  or  to  kill  the  calf  for  the  un- 
expected guest. 

We  cannot  but  admire  the  wisdom  that  thus 
chose  Abraham,  engaged  as  he  was  in  the  ordinary 
occupations  of  life.  He  was  to  exemplify  the 
graces  of  faith  and  obedience  as  he  went  about  his 
daily  duties.  If  he  had  been  called  to  be  a  recluse, 
others  would  have  said  he  does  not  have  to  fight 
our  battles.  He  is  alone  and  does  not  understand 
our  surroundings  and  temptations.  What  the 
world  wanted  was  the  example  of  one  of  their  own 
numbers  living  their  life  of  faith  when  surrounded 
by  the  present;  and  an  obedience  to  the  unseen, 
event  when  the  seen  was  demanding  our  constant 
care  and  attention. 

Abraham  was  the  tenth  generation  from  Noah 
and  born  two  years  after  his  death.  His  father's 
name  was  Terah,  a  descendant  of  Shem.  He  was 
born  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  B.  C.  1996.  Ur  is 
generally  supposed  to  be  the  ancient  Nippur, 
formerly  on  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf, 
though  now  a  hundred  miles  inland.  At  the  time 
of  Abraham's  call,  this  city  was  a  maritime  em- 
porium, a  walled  town,  with  a  high  civilization 
and  large  commerce,  situated  in  a  rich  country, 
said  to  be  the  original  home  of  the  wheat  plant 
and  famous  for  its  dates  and  other  fruits.  It 
was  also  the  holy  city  of  the  Chaldeans.  The 
temple  located  there  has  recently  been  explored, 
showing  the  polytheistic  character  of  this  early 
home  of  Abraham,  and  also    a    high    degree   of 


CALLING  OF  ABRAHAM  127 

literary  attainment  and  activity,  as  witnessed  es- 
pecially in  the  code  of  Hammurami.  The  Poly- 
theistic tendency  of  the  times  is  referred  to  by 
Joshua  in  calling  upon  the  people  to  put  away 
the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other 
side  of  the  flood  (or,  as  Kent  translates,  "beyond 
the  River").  The  first  step  in  Abraham's  jour- 
ney was  to  Haran,  where  he  remained  about  five 
years,  and  where  his  father  Terah  died.  Haran 
is  represented  as  a  large  commercial  city  five 
hundred  miles  to  the  northeast  of  Ur,  and  where 
Sayce  says  a  native  of  that  place  would  have 
found  himself  more  at  home  than  in  any  other 
city  of  the  world.  Here  Abraham's  brother  Nahor 
remained  and  Jacob,  the  grandson  of  Abraham 
went  thither  for  his  wife.  (See  Peloubet's  Notes 
for  1901,  and  Geikie's  "Hours  with  the  Bible"). 
At  Haran  came  the  first  intimation  to  Abra- 
ham of  his  destination.  The  "not  knowing 
whither  he  went"  (Heb.  11:8),  seems  to  refer 
especially  to  the  period  before  the  departure 
from  Haran.  In  this  second  stage,  he  took 
Sarai  his  wife,  and  Lot  his  brother's  son,  and  all 
their  substance  that  they  had  gathered,  and  the 
souls  they  had  gotten  in  Haran  (12:5)  and  de- 
parted for  Canaan,  probably  by  the  way  Damas- 
cus. From  thence  they  journeyed  south  through 
the  land  to  Bethel,  where  he  builded  an  altar  unto 
the  Lord  (v.  8).  Here  in  about  the  center  of 
the  promised  inheritance,  the  Lord  appeared 
unto  him  and  said,  "Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this 
land"  (12:7). 


128        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

As  we  pass  on  to  the  main  features  of  Abra- 
ham's character,  all  must  note  the  fact  made  clear 
in  both  Testaments,  that  faith  and  its  resultant 
fruits,  is  the  grace  made  prominent  in  his  life. 
"Abraham  believed  God  and  it  was  counted  unto 
him  for  righteousness."  (Gen.  15:6;  Rom. 
4:3).  It  belongs  to  the  symmetry  of  gospel  de- 
velopment that  a  grace  so  fundamental  should 
show  itself  as  the  first  in  order  historically.  And 
this  faith  unfolded  in  the  history  is  the  counter- 
part of  the  same  faith  in  individual  believers.  The 
first  step  was  renunciation  of  idolatry  and  de- 
parture from  the  land  of  his  fathers. 

The  most  obvious  proof  of  leaving  off  any  sin- 
ful course  of  life,  is  to  get  up  and  go  away  from 
those  who  practice  it.  This  is  set  forth  by  Bun- 
yan  in  describing  Christian  as  leaving  the  City 
of  Destruction.  And  it  often  requires  more  than 
one  warning  to  get  fairly  away  from  our  sur- 
roundings. Haran  is  only  half-way  to  Canaan, 
and  many  stop  there.  The  effectual  call  to 
Abraham  was  when  his  destination  was  made 
known  to  him.  How  God  appeared  on  these  dif- 
ferent occasions,  we  know  not.  It  was  probably 
in  different  ways,  for  once  he  came  as  a  traveller. 
But  his  presence  and  personality  and  the  words  of 
promise  were  clear  and  distinct.  And  Abraham 
believed  in  and  worshipped  the  Lord  who  appeared 
to  him,  according  to  the  practice  of  the  worthies 
who  had  gone  before,  building  an  altar  wherever 
he  pitched  his  tent.     There  must  have  been  some- 


CALLING  OF  ABRAHAM  129 

thing  of  this  true  worship  kept  up  by  others,  as 
probably  by  Shem  and  certainly  by  Melchizedek, 
but  the  tendency  with  the  «|rieat  majority  was 
towards  idolatry. 

Special  emphasis  is  given  in  Scripture,  to 
Abraham's  faith  in  the  future.  The  promise  was 
to  his  seed,  and  yet  he  waited,  twenty-five  years 
for  a  son.  The  land  in  which  he  dwelt  as  a 
stranger  was  to  be  his,  and  yet  he  had  no  posses- 
sion in  it  but  a  burying-place.  And  then  there 
was  no  history  such  as  we  have,  to  bolster  up  a 
weak  faith  against  appearances.  Xoah  alone  be- 
lieved God  about  a  threatened  destruction,  and  it 
came.  Here  was  a  promise  of  good,  would  it 
take  place?  His  seed  was  to  be  as  the  sand  of  the 
sea,  and  he  had  no  children. 

Another  evidence  of  faith  was  his  obedience. 
This  was  always  prompt  at  every  indication  of 
duty.  If  he  was  to  take  a  long  journey,  he  took 
his  tent,  gathered  his  flocks  and  his  household 
and  moved  forward.  When  circumcision  was  ap- 
pointed as  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  it  is  said  "that 
in  the  self-same  day  he  did  as  God  said  unto  him" 
(17:23).  And  in  the  great  trial  of  his  faith, 
when  told  to  oflPer  up  his  only  son  Isaac,  the  com- 
mand came  apparently  in  a  vision  of  the  night, 
for  it  is  said,  he  rose  up  early  in  the  morning 
and  at  once  undertook  the  prescribed  duty, 
though  so  painful  and  trying  to  a  father's  heart. 

And  this  obedience  was  not  only  prompt,  but 
unquestioning.     The  test  was  severe.     It  was  his 


130        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

only  son  Isaac,  whom  he  loved — the  child  of  his 
old  age  and  the  child  of  promise.  He  was  to  take 
him  and  offer  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering.  It 
was  not  easy  to  still  the  doubts  and  questionings, 
which  must  have  arisen  in  his  mind,  except  as  in- 
timated in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  that  he  ex- 
pected his  son's  resurrection  (11:  19).  But  what- 
ever way  God  might  adopt  of  vindicating  him- 
seif,  Abraham  knew  his  duty  was  obedience;  and 
resolutely  undertook  it,  even  to  the  uplifted  knife, 
when  God  stayed  his  hand. 

Over  against  this  grace  of  obedience,  was  one 
which  is,  in  some  measure  its  opposite,  that  of 
patient  waiting.  They  who  are  quick  and  prompt 
often  find  it  difficult  to  wait.  They  wish  to  be 
up  and  doing.  And  so  when  anything  desirable 
is  long  delayed,  the  hard  thing  is  to  wait,  or  to 
abstain  from  using  some  crooked  device  of  our 
own,  instead  of  accepting  God's  time  and  way. 
As  a  fact,  Abraham  failed  in  this  particular  more 
than  in  the  others  mentioned.  In  accordance  with 
the  custom  of  those  times,  and  at  the  suggestion 
of  Sarah,  he  took  a  concubine,  who  bore  him  Ish- 
mael.  Abraham  seems  to  have  expected  that  this 
son  should  have  taken  the  place  of  the  promised 
seed.  It  was  not  in  this  way,  however,  that  God 
chose  to  carry  out  his  plans.  Marriage  as  first 
instituted  was  to  be  honored,  and  any  departure 
therefrom,  however  excusable  on  account  of  pre- 
vailing custom  and  the  incompleteness  of  Revela- 
tion, was  not  to  be  canctioned.     And  in  this  case. 


CALLING  OF  ABRAHAM  131 

concubinage  yielded  its  usual  fruits  of  jealousy 
and  trouble  in  the  household.  In  the  waiting, 
however,  God  tested  Abraham's  faith  no  less  than 
by  prompt  and  willing  obedience.  Through  those 
long  years — a  quarter  of  a  century — it  seemed 
as  though  the  promise  would  fail.  From  a  human 
point  of  view  it  seemed  impossible — so  absurd 
that  Sarah  laughed  with  derision,  yet  God  was 
true  to  his  promise,  and  trained  Abraham  to  that 
important  lesson  of  patient  waiting  on  him  alone, 
or  of  hoping  against  hope,  simply  because  God 
said  so. 

The  graces  thus  far  considered  are  those  which 
are  specially  exercised  towards  God.  They  could 
indeed  have  no  existence,  unless  through  an  abid- 
ing sense  of  Jehovah's  presence,  supreme  author- 
ity, and  the  assurance  that  he  would  do  all  that 
he  had  promised.  Faith  in  God  was  the  starting 
point,  even  before  Abraham  could  have  left  his 
own  country  and  his  father's  house.  And  the 
root  of  obedience,  of  patient  waiting  and  of  those 
kindly  graces  towards  man  was  faith.  He  be- 
lieved God,  and  therefore  he  did  as  bidden.  He 
believed,  and  therefore  he  could  wait.  He  be- 
lieved in  God,  who  was  patient  and  forgiving 
towards  him,  and  therefore  he  was  kind  and  forgiv- 
ing towards  man.  There  is  an  apocryphal  story 
repeated  by  Stanley  that  Abraham  was  taught  the 
lesson  of  kindness  to  strangers  by  God  himself. 
It  is  said  that  an  old  man  of  an  hundred  years, 
passed  Abraham's  tent,  to  whom  he  offered  hos- 


132        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

pitality.  But  when  he  gave  him  food  and  saw 
that  he  asked  no  blessing,  and  that  when  he  lay 
down  at  night  he  prayed  not  to  God,  Abraham 
ordered  him  out  of  his  door,  because  he  would 
not  worship.  When  he  had  gone,  God  met  him 
and  said,  "Couldst  not  thou  bear  with  a  stranger 
for  one  night,  with  whom  I  have  borne  for  an  hun- 
dred years?"  Abraham  accordingly  went  after 
the  man,  brought  him  back  to  his  tent,  and 
treated  him  kindly.  The  story  may  not  be  true, 
but  the  truth  hid  under  it  is  correct,  that  our  best 
instruction  in  kindly  graces  towards  man  comes 
from  God's  dealings  towards  us.  Perhaps  we 
would  not  be  justified  in  saying  that  the  hospital- 
ity so  religiously  practised  by  the  Arabs  of  the 
present  day  is  the  direct  result  of  some  such  in- 
cident as  specified  in  the  story,  but  he  who  walks 
with  God  as  Abraham  did,  as  a  friend,  must  feel 
the  weight  of  his  example  as  well  as  his  direct 
commands.  The  best  humanity  is  that  which 
comes  into  closest  contact  with  divinity. 

It  is  well  to  notice  other  points  in  his  treat- 
ment of  others,  which  show  a  reflection  of  his 
friendship  with  God.  One  was  his  treatment  of 
his  nephew  Lot.  On  account  of  the  increase  of 
their  flocks,  they  found  it  necessary  to  separate. 
Instead  of  Abraham  insisting  on  his  own  rights 
as  the  elder  of  the  two,  and  the  one  to  whom  the 
promise  of  the  land  had  been  given,  he  gives  to 
Lot  the  choice.  And  then  when  Lot  and  his  neigh- 
bors were  captured  in  a  raid  by  the  kings  of  the 


CALLING  OF  ABRAHAM  133 

East,  instead  of  leaving  him  to  the  just  conse- 
quences of  his  selfish  mistake,  Abraham  shows 
both  forgiveness  and  courage  by  going  to  the 
rescue;  and  in  the  only  warlike  expedition  of  his 
life,  conquers  chieftains  or  kings  who  had  made 
this  the  Ibusiness  of  their  lives.*  And  with  what 
unselfishness  he  restores  goods  as  well  as  per- 
sons, instead  of  making  them  the  prize  of  war, 
as  was  suggested  by  those  whom  he  had  rescued, 
(ch.  14). 

The  same  high-minded  delicacy  characterized 
Abraham's  dealings  with  the  sons  of  Heth,  when 
he  bought  the  cave  of  Macpelah  for  a  burylng- 
place  for  Sarah  his  wife  (ch.  22).  How  elevated 
in  tone  the  whole  transaction.  These  strangers — 
these  dwellers  in  tents,  had  so  impressed  upon  the 
owners  of  the  soil  their  honorable  dealings  and 
methods  of  living,  that  they  would  take  no  advan- 
tage of  them  in  a  bargain,  and  treated  Abraham 
as  "a  prince  of  God"  among  us.  The  fair  and 
honorable  man,  begat,  as  was  his  due,  the  respect 
and  kind  treatment  of  his  neighbors. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Abraham  did  not 
seek  to  carry  the  body  of  Sarah  back  to  the  home 

• "  Chederlaomer  is  clearly  an  Elarnite  name  (Kudur-La- 
gamar).  Amraphel  may  well  be  the  later  fonn  of  the  name 
of  the  famous  Babylonian  king  Hammurabi  who  ultimately 
delivered  his  nation  from  the  Elamite  yoke.  EUasar  is  per- 
haps the  Hebrew  form  of  Larsa,  one  of  the  important  towns 
of  Southern  Babylonia.  The  fact  that  the  Elamites  ruled 
Babylonia  prior  to  2200  B.C.  and  that  these  Eastern  powers 
at  times  extended  their  authority  to  the  Mediterranean  is  es- 
tablished by  the  testimony  of  the  Babylonian  inscriptions." 
(Kent's  Beginnings  of  Hebrew  History,  p.  Ho.) 


134        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

of  his  ancestors  in  Haran  or  Ur.  This  is  a  com- 
mon feeling  with  those  who  have  left  the  home  of 
their  fathers.  Joseph  desired  that  his  father  and 
that  he  himself  should  be  buried  in  the  land  given 
them  by  God.  Canaan  was  to  Abraham  and  all 
his  descendants  the  land  of  their  inheritance,  even 
when  they  owned  only  a  burying-lot.  But  beyond 
the  earthly  Canaan  there  is  every  reason  for  the 
assertion  of  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews that  they  looked  for  a  City  whose  builder 
and  maker  is  God  (11:10).  God  appeared  re- 
peatedly to  Abraham,  and  the  only  legitimate  in- 
ference was  that  he  had  a  habitation  where  he  es- 
pecially lived  or  manifested  himself.  To  that 
home  or  city  Abraham  looked  forward  as  a  place 
where  Enoch  and  the  true  Sons  of  God  had  gone. 
These,  then,  are  the  graces  which  have  made 
Abraham  known  and  respected  among  all  nations, 
Jew  and  Gentile.  He  was  no  warrior,  no  builder 
of  cities,  no  philosopher  or  teacher,  simply  a 
plain  man  dwelling  in  tents.  He  was  called  of 
God,  and  became  a  friend  of  God.  And  so  he  has 
left  an  example  of  faith  and  obedience  towards 
God  and  of  kindness  and  unselfishness  towards 
men  which  have  been  an  encouragement  and  help 
in  all  ages. 


CHAPTER  XI 

JACOB   ON   THE   POSITION   OF   PRAYER 
IN  THE  INDIVIDUAL  LIFE 

Before  proceeding  with  the  life  of  Jacob,  there 
are  one  or  two  general  observations  which  ought 
to  be  made.  (1)  One  is  that  these  are  not  the 
biographies  that  would  have  attracted  ordinary 
historians  and  poets.  They  would  have  written 
about  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter,  the  builder  of 
Babylon,  or  Cheder-Laomcr,  king  of  Elam,  or 
Tidal,  king  of  nations  (Gen.  l^:!!).  But  here 
is  Abraham  not  even  a  king,  only  the  chief  of  a 
tribe,  who  fought  only  one  battle.  And  why  was 
he  selected.''  He  was  the  called  of  God  and  re- 
sponded by  a  willing  faith  and  obedience.  It  was 
a  life  that  took  on  the  spiritual  and  eternal,  a  life 
that  was  important  only  as  it  took  hold  on  God 
and  yet  a  life  that  has  helped  revolutionize  the 
world  and  give  us  new  conceptions  of  a  greatness 
greater  than  that  of  sword  or  world-wide  fame. 
(2)  We  need  more  than  one  example  of  those  who 
have  walked  by  faith.  Abraham  is  such  a  bril- 
liant example  of  faith  and  obedience,  and  was  so 
honorable  in  his  dealings  with  men  that  he  seems 
of  better  clay  than  ordinary  mortals.  That  we 
be  not  discouraged  we  need  another  type  like 
Jacob,  the  Supplanter. 

As  Abraham's  character — his  faith  and  obedi- 
ence— illustrate  a  part  of  religious  experience  in 
135 


136        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  individual,  so  another  and  very  important 
part  is  illustrated  by  Jacob,  and  that  is  prayer. 
Not  that  Abraham  and  the  other  patriarchs  were 
not  men  of  prayer,  but  it  stands  out  more  promi- 
nently in  the  history  of  Jacob's  life.  The  record 
about  Isaac  is  comparatively  brief.  He  was  in 
a  measure  the  completion  of  his  father's  life. 
Like  him,  he  was  a  man  of  peace,  following  the 
same  industries  and  having  many  of  the  same  ex- 
periences. One  incident  with  regard  to  the  wife 
of  Isaac  shows  a  similar  stage  of  civilization  in 
Egypt  and  among  the  Philistines  a  generation 
apart     (Gen.  12:  11,  20:  2  and  26:  7). 

In  the  most  important  incident  in  the  lives  of 
father  and  son,  they  stood  together.  The  father 
took  the  son  to  offer  him  as  a  sacrifice,  but  that 
son  was  no  mere  child,  but  a  young  man  of 
twenty  or  twenty-five.  (This  is  the  opinion  of 
Josephus.)  At  that  age  he  would  have  had  all 
the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  an  heir  of  his  fath- 
er's wealth,  and  of  the  divine  promises.  If  the 
obedience  of  Abraham,  ready  to  slay  his  son,  illus- 
trates the  love  of  God  the  Father,  who  did  not 
withhold  his  only  Son,  surely  the  acquiescence  of 
Isaac  in  the  stern  command,  shadows  forth  the 
submission  of  Christ,  in  laying  down  his  life  of 
his  own  will,  for  the  salvation  of  a  lost  world. 

The  relation  between  Abraham  and  Jacob  is 
best  seen  by  the  phraseology,  which  is  used  after 
this  in  speaking  of  the  history  of  God's  chosen 
people.     They   are   sometimes   called  children  of 


JACOB  AND  PRAYER  137 

Abraham.  Especially  is  this  applied  to  his  spir- 
itual children,  inasmuch  as  they  exhibited  his 
faith.  At  other  times  they  arc  called  children  of 
Israel.  Isaac  is  not  mentioned  except  when  the 
three  patriarchs  are  spoken  of  together.  The 
truth  taught  seems  to  be  this,  that  in  the  prayer 
of  the  one  and  in  the  faith  and  obedience  of  the 
other,  we  have  the  fundamental  and  indissoluble 
parts  of  all   religious  experience. 

Paul  was  a  man  of  great  faith  and  unswerving 
obedience  or  loyalty  to  the  Lord  Jesus ;  yet  of 
the  transition  period  of  his  life  it  is  said,  "Be- 
hold he  prayeth."  Prayer  does  not  belong  to  the 
natural  man,  however  much  he  may  practise  its 
forms.  Prayer  was  not  natural  to  Jacob,  though 
by  natural  descent  a  son  of  Abraham.  His  dispo- 
sition was  to  trust  in  himself,  and  seek  to  carry 
out  his  plans  by  circumventing  or  supplanting 
others.  How  he  was  cured  of  this  tendency,  and 
his  character  as  well  as  his  name  changed  from 
Jacob  to  Israel  is  unfolded  in  the  history. 

The  difference  between  Jacob  and  his  twin 
brother  Esau  was  marked  from  their  birth.  Twins 
often  resemble  one  another,  but  here  the  diver- 
gence was  manifest  not  only  physically,  but  in 
their  dispositions.  Esau  did  not  care  for  the 
quiet  pastoral  life  of  caring  for  flocks,  but  pre- 
ferred roving  about  as  a  hunter.  Jacob,  whose 
homelike  tastes,  pleased  his  mother,  had  also  an 
over-reaching  disposition.  This  was  manifest  in 
the  bargain,  which  he  made  with  his  brother  for 


138        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

his  birthright.  There  is  this  redeeming  feature 
on  the  part  of  Jacob,  in  this  transaction.  He  saw 
and  in  a  measure  appreciated  the  excellence  of 
the  promise  made  to  Abraham  and  repeated  to 
Isaac.  And  we  need  to  bear  in  mind  that  Abra- 
ham lived  until  his  grandsons,  Esau  and  Jacob, 
were  fifteen  years  old.  And  the  same  disposition, 
for  which  he  was  commended  by  Jehovah,  "that 
he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him"  (Gen  18:19),  doubtless  characterized 
him,  in  impressing  the  lessons  of  his  life  upon 
those  who  were  to  be  the  inheritors  of  the  prom- 
ises made  to  him.  Esau  with  all  this  knowledge 
and  with  the  position  of  first-born,  despised  his 
birthright.  For  the  sake  of  satisfying  his  hun- 
ger, he  forfeited  all  for  which  his  grandfather  had 
left  his  native  land,  and  for  which  he  had  waited 
for  years.  If  Esau  thus  lived  for  the  present, 
and  was  careless  of  and  despised  future  good,  we 
certainly  cannot  justify  Jacob,  who  was  mean 
enough  to  take  such  an  advantage,  and  bargain 
away  his  dish  of  lentils,  which  he  ought  to  have 
given,  for  what  he  knew  would  be  a  valuable  pos- 
session. 

But  if  in  this  case,  Jacob's  conduct  was  that  of 
a  supplanter,  sharp  and  over-reaching  for  his 
own  benefit,  the  next  transaction  in  which  he  ap- 
pears, was  still  worse.  It  was  a  clear  case  of 
deception  and  unblushing  falsehood — suggested, 
it  is  true,  by  his  mother,  but  readily  fallen  in  with 
and  adopted  by  the  son.     Isaac  was  old  and  blind 


JACOB  AND  PRAYER  139 

and  confined  to  his  bed,  and  thought  he  would 
soon  die — though  he  actually  lived  forty-three  or 
sixty-three*  years  after  this,  dying  at  the  age  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty.  It  is  probable  that  he 
recovered  in  a  great  measure  from  his  sickness, 
and  was  able  to  be  about  again.  With  his  strong 
ideas  of  the  right  of  the  first-born,  Isaac  called 
Esau,  that  he  might  give  him  his  fatherly  bless- 
ing before  he  died.  Rebekah  hears  the  conversa- 
tion, and  perhaps  excusing  herself  on  account  of 
the  character  of  Esau,  and  his  marriage  with  the 
daughters  of  the  land,  and  remembering  also  the 
divine  word  that  the  elder  should  serve  the 
younger  (25:23),  called  her  son  Jacob,  to  co- 
operate with  her  in  securing  the  blessing  for  him- 
self. Jacob  was  now  fifty-seven  or  seventy-seven, 
according  as  we  reckon  the  number  of  years  spent 
in  ^lesopotamia),  and  so,  of  course,  no  mere 
child.  The  mother's  appeal  was  to  his  self-inter- 
est. And  his  grasping,  covetous  nature  acqui- 
esced in  the  plan  of  deception,  which  he  carried 

*  The  usual  calculation  is  that  Isaac  was  now  i;{7.  Joseph 
having  been  introduced  to  Pharoah  in  his  thirtieth  year  (ch. 
41 :  40)  and  having  been  39  (ch.  45:  (i )  when  his  father  aged 
133  (ch.  47:  9)  came  into  Egypt,  must  have  been  born  before 
Jacob  was  91;  consequently  as  his  birth  occurred  in  the  14th 
year  of  Jacob's  sojourn  in  Mesopotamia  (cf.  ch.  30:  25  witli 
29:  18,  -21,  2-2)  Jacob's  flight  must  have  taken  place  when  he 
was  77.  But  Jacob  was  born  in  Isaac's  (iOth  year  (-25 :  26)  hence 
Isaac  was  now  137.  There  are  however,  difficulties  connected 
with  this  reckoning.  It  takes  for  granted  that  Jacob  was  in 
Padan  Aram  only  20  years,  whereas  Kennicott  thinks  it  40, 
14  for  his  wives,  20  of  after  service  and  6  for  wages.  Accord- 
ing to  the  latter  Isaac  at  this  time  was  117  (Pulpit  Commen- 
tary in  loco). 


140        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

out  not  only  by  putting  on  Esau's  garments  and 
covering  his  hands  and  the  smooth  of  his  neck 
with  goat-skins,  but  boldly  silenced  his  father's 
doubts  by  one  falsehood  after  another. 

When  the  deception  was  discovered,  as  neces- 
sarily it  would  be  as  soon  as  Esau  returned,  the 
latter  determines  to  retaliate  and  kill  his  brother 
as  soon  as  the  death  of  his  father  should  take 
place.  The  mother,  aware  of  his  intention,  sends 
Jacob  away  to  Padan  Aram  to  her  brother. 

BETHEL,    CH.    28 

And  here  comes  in  that  wondrous  grace  on  the 
part  of  God,  which  gives  this  refugee  from  re- 
venge, the  hope  that  the  blessing  of  Abraham 
rested  upon  him,  more  surely  than  the  words  of 
Isaac.  Very  indefinite  and  intangible  was  the 
birthright,  unless  he  had  the  assurance  that 
Abraham's  God  was  his  God.  He  had  been  try- 
ing by  subterfuge  and  deception  to  obtain  the 
blessing.  The  vision  as  he  slept  on  the  stone  at 
Bethel,  was  that  that  was  not  the  way,  but  to 
seek  it  from  God  himself.  Jacob's  way  was  like 
Paul's  going  about  to  establish  his  own  righteous- 
ness, but  the  vision  of  the  one  at  midnight  and 
the  other  at  mid-day,  was  that  Jehovah  and  the 
angelic  host  is  our  only  defence.  How  puny  and 
useless  the  efforts  of  man  by  the  side  of  the  open 
heavens.  This  is  the  thought  that  man  needs  to 
realize,  before  he  takes  Jehovah  to  be  his  God. 
It  was  a  personal  revelation  to  Jacob  and  Paul. 


JACOB  AND  PRAYER  141 

And  in  one  sense  it  is  a  personal  revelation  to 
every  man  before  he  gets  into  the  light.  It  is 
God  finding  us,  instead  of  our  getting  the  bless- 
ing by  our  own  struggle.*  And  that  opens 
heaven  and  makes  our  heart  a  temple,  where  the 
angels  ascend  and  descend.  This  vision  of 
heaven  brought  near,  found  its  highest  realization 
in  Christ  Jesus,  taking  our  nature  and  making  a 
complete  and  perfect  ladder  by  which  heaven 
lifts  earth  into  light  and  life.  It  is  salvation  for 
sinful  man. 

As  to  Jacob  himself  he  had  the  blessing  of 
Abraham  confirmed  and  the  promise  added  of  per- 
sonal care  in  all  places  where  he  should  go ;  and 
that  he  should  be  brought  again  to  the  land  prom- 
ised to  him  and  to  his  seed.  One  thought  would 
be  that  after  this,  Jacob  would  be  a  new  man,  that 
the  light  of  that  vision  and  the  encouragement  of 
those  promises,  would  have  lifted  him  out  of  his 
former  self.  But  in  a  measure  he  is  Jacob  still. 
He  had  to  deal  with  one  disposed  to  take  all  pos- 
sible advantage  in  every  transaction.  Laban  de- 
ceived him  about  his  wife,  and  changed  his  wages 
ten  times.  Jacob  yielded  to  the  deception  about 
Leah,  as  if  sent  by  the  Lord  as  a  reminder  of  his 
own  fault.  It  looks  also  as  though  he  secured 
an  extra  share  of  cattle  by  one  of  his  old  subter- 

*  There  is  the  waiting  for  the  action  of  our  own  will,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  when  he  came  to  himself  —  and 
there  is  the  divine  calling  and  stimulus  to  right  action.  They 
are  both  true  and  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  attempt  the  recon- 
ciliation. 


142        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

fuges.  But  then  again  he  went  even  further  than 
strict  justice  in  bearing  the  loss  of  that  which 
was  stolen  or  torn  by  beasts  (31:39).  Further 
than  this  there  was  a  constant  recognition  of 
God's  hand,  which  was  so  manifest  that  Laban 
said,  "I  have  learned  by  experience  that  the  Lord 
hath  blessed  me,  for  thy  sake"  (30:27).  We 
know  that  Jacob  made  a  vow  to  give  a  tenth  to 
God,  of  all  that  God  should  give  him"  (28:22). 
There  is  no  record  of  the  way  in  which  the  vow 
was  carried  out.  But  as  it  became  a  law  among 
his  descendants,  we  suppose  that  he  adhered  to 
it.  And  there  is  nothing  like  a  conscientious  ad- 
herence to  the  principle  of  giving  a  proportion 
to  the  Lord,  that  takes  the  selfishness  so  com- 
pletely out  of  a  man. 

An  equally  potent  factor  in  subduing  selfishness 
is  generosity.  And  Jacob  was  ready  now  to  do 
a  generous  act,  as  he  had  been  before  to  do  a 
mean  one.  It  is  true  that  he  proposed  by  the 
present  which  he  prepared  for  his  brother  to  ap- 
pease his  anger  (32:20).  But  when  this  had 
been  done  in  answer  to  prayer,  he  still  urges  the 
acceptance  of  the  present.  And  it  was  no  insig- 
nificant gift  that  he  offered.  "Two  hundred  she 
goats  and  twenty  he  goats,  thirty  milch  camels 
with  their  colts,  forty  kine  and  ten  bulls,  twenty 
she  asses  and  ten  foals"  (32:  14  and  15).  It  was 
astonishing  that  he  who  went  out  Avith  only  his 
staff,  twenty  or  even  forty  years  before,  could 
give  so  freely  and  have  anything  left.     But  the 


JACOB  AND  PRAYER  143 

Lord  had  fvidtntly  bofii  with  liim,  and  this  pres- 
ent said  in  speech  stronger  than  words,  I  was  a 
supphmtcr,  I  wrongly  obtained  the  birthright.  I 
sinned  in  deceiving  my  father.  But  here  is  the 
best  reparation  I  can  make.  I  obtained  nothing 
by  my  deception.  But  the  Lord  has  blessed  me. 
Accept  this  and  let  us  be  brothers. 

PENUEL,  32 

But  whatever  gifts  might  do,  Jacob  had  learned 
not  to  depend  on  them,  or  upon  any  efforts  of  his 
own.  In  accordance  with  the  command  of  God, 
he  had  gathered  his  family  together  and  started 
on  his  return  journey.  The  first  difficulty  was  in 
getting  away  from  Laban,  his  father-in-law.  La- 
ban  seemed  to  regard  the  large  family  and  numer- 
ous herds  as  in  a  measure  belonging  to  him  as 
the  chief  of  the  tribe,  and  so  to  avoid  strife  or 
even  angry  words,  Jacob  stole  away.  Laban  fol- 
lowed and  overtook  him  after  a  seven  days'  pur- 
suit, in  Mount  Gilead  (31:23).  Here  God  ap- 
peared to  Laban,  warning  him  not  to  enter  upon 
an}'  discussion.  After  they  had  agreed  that 
neither  should  pass  that  boundary  line  with  the 
intention  of  injuring  one  another,  Jacob  went  on 
his  way  and  was  still  further  encouraged  by  a 
vision  of  two  hosts  of  angels  (32:  2)  as  if  one 
would  keep  from  dangers  in  the  rear  and  the  other 
from  those  in  advance.  And  yet  when  the  messen- 
gers whom  he  had  sent  forward  to  learn  the  sit- 
uation,   returned   with   the   word   that   Esau    was 


144        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

coming  to  meet  him  with  four  hundred  men,  he 
was  greatly  afraid  and  distressed:  32:7.)  While 
Jacob  had  been  following  the  arts  of  peace,  his 
brother  had  become  a  military  chieftain — a  shiekh 
of  the  desert,  who  would  consider  this  roving  un- 
protected band,  a  lawful  and  easy  prey  for  one  of 
their  raids.  And  then  there  came  the  remembrance 
of  that  vow  of  vengeance  for  his  deceit.  Here  was 
an  easy  chance  to  execute  it.  Might  would  soon 
show  to  whom  belonged  the  birthright.  If  Jacob 
had  tried  to  flee  where  could  he  go?  He  had  just 
fled  from  Mesopotamia  and  was  under  obligation 
not  to  return.  If  he  should  try,  he  could  not 
escape  from  his  brother.  Will  Esau  kill  him  as 
he  had  threatened  to  do?  And  with  four  hundred 
men  he  had  the  power.  Certainly  his  only  hope 
was  in  God.  And  so  in  deep  humility  and  with 
absolute  dependence  on  God,  he  prays  "  I  am  not 
worthy,  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercies  and  of  all 
the  truth,  which  Thou  showed  unto  Thy  servant." 
(32:10).  God  had  been  true  and  merciful  to  him 
and  he  had  not  been  true  to  God.  He  had  trusted 
to  his  own  devices  and  not  to  the  promise.  And 
the  trouble  which  threatened  was  purely  the  re- 
sult of  his  own  deceit.  If  God  helped,  it  would 
be  by  treating  him  not  as  he  deserved.  And  upon 
the  mercy  of  God  he  dared  to  trust,  because  of 
the  promises,  and  the  command  of  God  to  return. 
The  promise  made  to  Abraham  and  renewed  to 
Isaac,  had  also  been  made  his  when  God  appeared 
to  him  at  Bethel.      And  the  command  had  come 


JACOB  AND  PRAYER  14,5 

to  him,  to  "return   unto  thy  country  and  to  thy 
kindred  and  I  will  deal  well  with  thee."   (32:  of 
31:13).     He  was  therefore  in  the  path  of  duty. 
Thus  called  of  God  to  return,  he  could  plead  the 
promises  and  say,  how  are  these  to  be  fulfilled,  if 
Esau  should  come  and   smite  me  and  the   mother 
with   the   children.      Knowing   the  difficulties   and 
knowing  also  how  God  had  removed  these  difficul- 
ties in  the  case  of  others,  he  prays  "O  God  of  my 
father  Abraham   and  God    of    my    father  Isaac, 
deliver  me   I   pray  thee   from    the    hand    of    my 
brother."     The    intensity    of    this  desire  is  repre- 
sented to  us  more  vividly,  by  the  wrestling  of  a 
man   with   Jacob   until   the   breaking   of  the   day 
(v.  24).     As  this  man  is  afterwards  spoken  of  as 
God   (v.  30)    it  seems  not  unreasonable  to  think 
of  him  as  our  Divine  Intercessor,  who  can  easily 
overcome  us  by    a    touch    and   yet  graciously  con- 
descends to    our  infirmities,  hears  our  prayer   and 
allows   us   to  prevail,   and    calls   us    princes,    when 
it  is  by  his  grace  and  power  that  we  are  able  to 
overcome.     Over  against  the  condescending  grace 
at  Bethel,  which  revealed  the  open  way  to  Heaven, 
we  get  at  Penuel  a  glimpse  of  the  finished  High 
Priestly     work    of    our    Intercessor,   making    the 
unworthy  Jacobs,  princes  of  God  in   renouncing 
worldly  aid  and  in  relying  on  divine  power. 

The  result  of  this  plea,  was  the  change  in  Esau 
from  the  dreaded  enemy  to  a  reconciled  brother. 
Some  may  think  little  of  such  an  answer  to  praj^er. 
There  was  no  miracle  such  as  men  may  expect  who 


146        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

watch  for  signs.  It  was  simply  the  victory  over 
a  heart  turned  from  its  purpose  and  answering  to 
the  quiet  demand  of  love,  instead  of  vengeance, 
crushing  with  the  sword  and  sending  cries  and 
desolation  through  the  camp  of  the  helpless.  And 
this  new  name  given  to  the  Conqueror  has  little  of 
the  ring,  which  men  love,  who  are  brevetted  on 
the  battle  field.  And  yet  here  is  a  man  who  has 
learned  the  great  lesson  of  all  true  conquest,  that 
God  is  greater  than  man  and  that  he  who  wins 
there,  must  bow  the  knee  in  prayer.  Jacob  was 
first  won  to  God,  before  he  could  win  Esau  to  him- 
self. To  some  Jacob  may  seem  as  little  trans- 
formed at  Penuel  as  at  Bethel.  He  was  Jacob 
still  down  to  the  end  of  his  days.  He  had  not  a  lit- 
tle of  human  weakness  left  in  him,  when  in  sadness 
he  said  all  these  things  are  against  me:  (42:  36). 
But  our  weak  human  nature  was  to  learn  through 
him  the  short-sightedness  of  men  in  comparison 
with  the  far-reaching  goodness  of  the  plans  of 
God.  But  Jacob  showed  the  power  of  grace, 
in  selfishness  changed  to  justice  and  magnanimity, 
in  self-dependence  changed  to  trust  in  God,  in  the 
victory  of  love  over  hate.  And  then  as  Moses  and 
Samuel  showed  what  their  mothers  were,  so 
Joseph  showed  what  his  father  was.  And  then 
Joseph  exalted  knew  the  worth  of  that  father 
who  though  despised  as  a  shepherd,  he  could  pre- 
sent to  Pharaoh  as  a  man  of  God  whose  blessing 
could  enrich  a  king.  In  communion  with  God  he 
spoke  as  a  prophet.  And  in  his  death  no  one  in 
all  the  land  of  Egypt  was  more  honored. 


CHAPTER  XII 

JOSEPH,     OR    THE     EXALTATION     AND 

TRIUMPH  OF  RELIGION  IN  THE 

INDIVIDUAL  LIFE 

It  is  but  natural  as  we  have  the  fundamental 
expression  of  religious  life  in  faith,  and  prayer 
that  wc  should  also  have  the  result  or  growth  in 
the  exaltation  of  the  individual  and  in  liis  influence 
over  others.  We  have  seen  something  of  this  ef- 
fect in  the  Patriarchs  whose  lives  we  have  already 
considered;  as  in  the  manifest  change  and  uplift- 
ing of  character  in  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob. 
The  latter  especially  exhibits  a  marked  change 
from  a  selfish  person,  disposed  to  rely  on  human 
expedients  to  a  man  of  prayer  who  could  plead 
only  the  mercy  of  God.  Not  only  was  Jacob's 
life  corrected  and  purified,  but  he  was  the  father 
and  instructor  of  Joseph  who  is  one  of  the  most 
perfect  characters  in  all  history.  It  is  in  him  that 
we  especially  see  the  growth  and  culmination  of 
religious  ideas  as  started  in  the  call  of  Abraham 
and  illustrated  in  this  first  chapter  of  Old  Tes- 
tament worthies.  If  we  had  no  clearer  light,  this 
record  would  show  what  religion  is  and  ought  to 
be,  in  the  faith,  obedience  and  uplift  of  those  who 
follow  its  teachings. 

The  history  of  Joseph  falls  naturally  into  three 
periods.  L  That  of  his  home  life  for  seventeen 
years.     2.     His  life  of  humiliation  as  a  slave  and 

147 


148        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

prisoner  until  he  was  thirty.  3.  His  exaltation 
as  ruler  of  Egypt — a  period  extending  to  his 
death  at  a  hundred  and  ten. 

I.     Joseph's  home  life 

Joseph  seems  to  have  been  gifted  with  a  nature 
peculiarly  lovable  and  receptive  to  the  truth.  This 
was  perhaps  one  reason  why  he  was  a  favorite  of 
the  father,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  he  was  the  son 
of  the  beloved  wife.  It  was  evidently  the  inten- 
tion of  Jacob  to  assign  him  the  position  of  first- 
born. This  was  indicated  by  giving  him  the  coat 
of  many  colors  or  as  it  is  usually  translated  of 
a  long  tunic  with  sleeves  (37:  3  Rev.  ver.  margin.) 
In  China  this  would  be  the  garment  of  the  scholar 
or  officer  instead  of  that  worn  by  the  coolie  or 
workman.  This  would  be  sufficient  to  arouse  the 
enmity  of  his  brethren.  They  would  say,  he  is 
placed  before  us,  who  are  older  than  he.  In  ad- 
dition to  this  jealousy  Joseph  was  cognizant  of  the 
evil  deeds  of  his  brethren  and  reported  them  to 
his  father.  What  these  deeds  were  is  not  re- 
corded. Caravans  passed  in  those  days  to  Egypt; 
and  Driver's  supposition  that  there  was  some  dis- 
honesty in  the  sale  of  flocks  is  not  improbable. 
In  addition  to  these  causes  of  enmity  Joseph  re- 
peated the  dreams,  which  seem  to  have  been  given 
him  as  a  divine  intimation  of  his  future  advance- 
ment. If  he  had  been  older  perhaps  prudence 
would  have  led  him  to  have  kept  those  dreams  to 
himself.     However  if  he  made  any  mistake  about 


JOSEPH  149 

this,  it  was  purposely  allowed  as  part  of  the  chain 
in  the  providential  leading,  which  was  to  bring 
about  the  desired  result.  Its  first  effect  was  to 
provoke  the  brothers  to  hinder  an  outcome  which 
seemed  improbable  and  yet  one  that  they  could 
not  face  out  of  their  minds.  It  was  hard  for  ten 
men  to  agree  on  the  best  method  of  ridding  them- 
selves of  the  dreamer.  Murder  was  the  surest.  But 
from  that  some  recoiled.  Their  point  was 
gained  as  they  supposed  by  selling  him  to  a  party 
of  Ishmaelites  who  wen.-  on  their  way  to  Egypt. 
Now  he  would  be  out  of  tiieir  way ;  and  they  could 
say  an  evil  beast  had  devoured  him.  This  false 
report  would  deceive  their  father,  especially  as 
they  brought  back  his  coat  covered  with  blood. 
One  of  the  things  which  afterwards  troubled  their 
memories,  was  that  they  saw  the  anguish  of  his 
soul  and  would  not  hear  (42:21).  To  Joseph  it 
must  have  seemed  a  sad  ending  to  his  life's  hopes, 
where  he,  a  lad  of  seventeen,  was  sold  as  a  slave 
and  taken  away  into  an  unknown  land  to  be  again 
sold  to  some  hard  bondage. 

The  lesson  of  this  part  of  Joseph's  life,  is  the 
value  of  religious  instruction  in  the  family.  That 
Abraham  practised  it  we  see  from  the  influence 
such  instruction  had  over  the  servant  sent  to  find 
a  wife  for  Isaac,  and  God  himself  said,  I  know  that 
he  will  command  his  children  and  household  after 
him,  tiiat  they  may  keep  the  way  of  Jehovah. 
(18:  19).  That  Jacob  sought  to  do  his  part  faith- 
fully in  this  matter  is  seen  in  Joseph,  who,  at  the 


150        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

age  of  seventeen,  was  thrown  into  entirely  differ- 
ent surroundings.  We  shall  see  how  he  met  these 
surroundings  as  we  go  on.  Now  we  wish  to  look 
at  the  instruction  which  helped  to  keep  him  faith- 
ful in  the  hour  of  trial.  Certainly  one  thing 
which  had  a  strong  hold  upon  him,  was  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  He  was  no  local  God,  for  he  was 
present  in  Egypt  as  well  as  at  his  father's  altars. 
He  had  been  with  his  father  at  Bethel  and  Penuel 
and  in  Mesopotamia  as  well  as  in  Canaan.  He 
was  the  God  who  had  instituted  sacrifice  way  back 
when  Adam  and  Eve  fled  from  Paradise.  He 
knew  of  the  secredness  of  the  marriage  tie  and 
how  God  regarded  any  deviation  from  that  law 
as  wicked  and  deserving  of  punishment.  Whether 
this  knowledge  came  from  its  first  institution  or 
from  later  teachings  respecting  it,  we  cannot  say. 
And  if  the  human  relationships  were  thus  made 
clear,  the  divine  side  in  creation — the  power  and 
goodness  as  given  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis 
may  have  been  handed  down  by  tradition.  Tradi- 
tion would  apparently  be  the  source.  And  yet  we 
know  that  the  code  of  Hammurabi  was  written  in 
the  time  of  Abraham.  And  how  much  earlier  writ- 
ing was  employed  we  cannot  say.  And  then 
through  those  long  years  of  waiting  and  prepara- 
tion, the  Patriarchs  may  have  thought  profoundly 
on  what  seems  to  us  the  few  truths  of  revelation. 
Take  this  one  thought  of  God's  being  and  pres- 
ence, how  it  entered  into  the  fibre  of  Joseph's 
thinking  and  acting. 


JOSEPH  151 

II.     Joseph's  himiliation 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  this  thought  of 
God's  presence  showed  itself  in  the  next  period 
of  his  life.  1.  There  was  a  cheerful  acceptance 
of  the  position  in  wiiich  he  was  placed.  However 
hard  to  be  a  slave  and  be  torn  away  from  his 
father's  home  as  shown  in  the  anguish  of  his  soul, 
yet  he  did  not  sit  down  and  mope  or  meditate  ven- 
geance. Doubtless  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  hand  of  God  was  in  the  hard  method  his 
brethren  took  of  ridding  themselves  of  him,  and 
so  there  was  a  ready  attempt  to  make  himself  use- 
ful and  seek  the  good  of  the  master  to  whom  he 
was  sold.  This  disposition  was  seen  by  his  first 
master,  who  gave  him  the  position  of  major-domo 
or  superintendent  of  his  affairs.  And  then  again, 
when  by  false  accusation,  he  was  thrown  into 
prison,  he  wasted  no  time  in  self-justification  or 
complaint  against  others,  even  though  his  feet 
were  hurt  with  fetters  (Ps.  105:18).  So  mani- 
festly was  the  Lord  with  him  that  the  keeper  of 
the  prison  entrusted  the  other  prisoners  to  his 
over  sight.  This  cheerfulness  and  readiness  to 
serve  and  adapt  one's  self  to  surroundings  may  not 
seem  a  great  grace,  but  it  is  in  the  line  of  obedi- 
ence to  God's  will. 

2.  More  positive  was  his  mastery  over  tempta- 
tion. He  did  not  stop  to  consider  the  pleasure  with 
which  Satan  is  wont  to  bait  his  hook  in  such  cases, 
nor  the  circumstances  favorable  to  concealment. 
It  was  sin  against  God,  and    he    ran    from    it    as 


152        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

quickly  as  possible.  Where  so  many  are  slain, 
it  was  a  victory,  the  example  of  which  has  helped 
others  in  the  same  fight  through  the  ages. 

3.  His  trust  in  God  helped  him  in  his  treat- 
ment of  his  brethren  and  gave  him  the  victory 
over  every  thought  of  resentment.  At  first  the 
position  which  he  took  may  have  seemed  harsh. 
He  knew  not  what  kind  of  men  his  brethren  were 
— whether  unfeeling  and  ready  for  some  wicked 
deed,  as  when  he  left  them.  His  first  thought  seems 
to  have  been  to  get  possession  of  his  younger 
brother.  But  as  he  saw  the  tender  solicitude  of 
Judah  for  his  father  and  how  he  had  become  re- 
sponsible for  Benjamin's  safe  return,  he  no  longer 
restrained  himself,  but  seeing  the  providential  in- 
tent that  his  father  and  all  his  brethren  and  their 
families  should  be  saved  alive,  sends  chariots  and 
food  for  them  all  to  come  to  Egypt.  Not  only 
did  he  thus  manifest  kindness  in  the  beginning 
and  receive  them  graciously ;  but  when,  after  his 
father's  death,  they  began  to  think  he  would  re- 
quite the  evil  which  they  had  done  unto  him.  Nobly 
and  generously  did  he  reply,  that  while  they  meant 
it  for  evil,  God  meant  it  for  good,  and  assured 
them,  I  will  nourish  you  and  your  little  ones.  And 
he  comforted  them  and  spake  kindly  unto  them 
(50:16-21). 

The  first  thought  suggested  by  this  period  of 
Joseph's  life,  is  the  wonderful  providence  of  God. 
We  hardly  wonder  at  the  view  which  Jacob  took 
of  the   situation,   before   it  was    fully   developed. 


JOSEPH  153 

All  these  things  are  against  me,  was  his  com- 
plaint. How  little  did  the  selling  Joseph  as  a 
slave  and  the  false  accusation  of  his  master's  wife 
look  like  advancement.  How  the  forgetfulness  of 
the  chief  butler  seemed  to  put  it  off  still  fur- 
ther. And  yet  it  was  all  working  to  the  result 
prognosticated  to  the  boy  in  his  dreams.  The 
lessons  suggested  by  such  providential  leading  are 
those  suggested  by  Joseph's  actions,  first  to  ac- 
cept cheerfully  wliat  seems  hard  and  difficult. 
And  yet  this  is  not  an  easy  task,  nor  one  quickly 
learned.  Joseph  began  the  task  in  anguish  of  soul 
and  ended  it  by  becoming  trusted  master  in  every 
position  in  which  he  was  placed.  Second,  we  are 
to  stand  fearlessly  and  positively  by  the  right. 
The  consciousness  of  rectitude  carries  with  it  not 
only  the  smile  of  one's  best  self,  but  the  blessing 
of  Jehovah. 

JOSEPH   A   TYPE  OF   THE   MESSIAH 

Instead  of  taking  up  the  next  period  of  Joseph's 
life,  or  that  of  his  exaltation,  it  seems  best  to 
take  up  the  thought  of  his  being  a  type  of  the 
Messiah,  which  necessarily  brings  in  also  some 
things  connected  with  his  humiliation.  This  posi- 
tion of  a  Messianic  type  was  a  new  step  in  the  de- 
velopment of  revelation.  The  first  step  was  the 
promise  to  our  first  parents  of  victory  over  the 
serpent,  through  the  seed  of  the  woman.  This  was 
confirmed  to  Abraham  and  a  new  idea  added  by 
making  his  seed  a  source  of  blessing    to    all  the 


164        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

families  of  the  earth.  In  addition  to  the  promise 
was  the  institution  of  sacrifice,  showing  a  way  of 
reconciliation  through  substitution.  And  now  a 
third  thought  is  added  that  the  promised  deliverer 
had  his  forerunner  in  such  a  person  as  Joseph.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  hold  that  Joseph  himself  or 
his  contemporaries  should  have  understood  this; 
but  that  we,  looking  back,  see  how  certain  features 
in  some  of  the  worthies  of  the  Old  Testament  fore- 
shadowed the  person  and  work  of  Christ.  Moses 
as  the  introducer  of  one  Dispensation,  speaks  of 
another  Prophet  like  himself  whom  God  would 
raise  up  to  do  a  similar  work,  but  most  of  these 
forerunners  went  on  doing  their  own  work,  uncon- 
scious of  its  significance.  We  are  specially  inter- 
ested in  seeing  how  much  of  truth  was  foreshad- 
owed in  their  conduct.  Thus  in  Joseph  there  is, 
first,  the  exaltation  growing  out  of  his  humilia- 
tion. The  road  to  the  prime  ministry  was  through 
slavery.  Christ  was  exalted  both  because  of  his 
work  and  his  character.  He  stands  alone  in  ex- 
alting us  through  his  death — but  in  a  measure  it 
could  be  said  of  Joseph  as  of  Christ,  "thou  hast 
loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity,  therefore 
hath  God  exalted  thee"  (Ps.  45 :  7).  There  is  also 
the  striking  external  fact  that  one  was  sold  and 
the  other  betrayed  for  the  same  price — thirty 
pieces  of  silver. 

Second,  There  was  the  saving  much  people  alive. 
In  the  one  case  it  was  the  family  of  Jacob — the 
chosen  seed.     On  the  other  it  was  a  great  multi- 


JOSEPH  166 

tude  whom  no  man  can  number.  In  the  one  case 
it  was  from  starvation.  In  the  other  an  eternal 
salvation  from  sin  and  its  curse  here  and  here- 
after. 

Third,  The  method  of  saving  by  forgiveness 
was  one  of  the  striking  points  in  which  Joseph  was 
a  type  of  Christ.  Joseph  was  tempted  to  retaliate, 
and  perhaps  thought  he  ought  to,  when  he  accused 
them  of  being  spies.  And  his  brethren  expected 
nothing  else  after  the  death  of  their  father.  But 
he  had  been  learning  God's  purpose  in  bringing 
him  into  Egypt  to  save,  and  that  purpose  could 
only  be  carried  out  by  forgiveness.  The  victory  of 
the  world  over  its  enemies  is  by  force,  by  revenge 
and  hate.  Christ's  victory  Is  by  love — by  mercy 
and  forgiveness.  Here  was  a  foreshadowing  of 
the  divine  way,  which  must  have  made  its  impres- 
sion on  those  who  were  taught  so  much  by  type 
and  symbol.  It  is  true  that  we  are  not  to  read 
too  much  of  gospel  teaching  into  the  Old  Testa- 
ment record,  neither  on  the  other  hand  are  we  to 
minimize  the  truth  designed  to  help  the  faith  that 
looked  to  the  future.  Sacrifice  and  Jacob's  vision, 
made  clear  that  the  way  to  heaven  was  open.  It 
was  open  to  such  a  man  as  Jacob.  And  it  was 
open  to  Jacob's  sons,  who  evidently  were  not  wor- 
thy, but  who  still  were  saved,  forgiven  and  treated 
kindly,  by  the  very  person  they  had  injured. 

Fourth,  Still  another  thought  was  that  the  per- 
fection of  this  salvation  was  in  the  future.  Joseph 
"took   an   oath   of  the  children   of   Israel   saying. 


156        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  ye  shall  carry  up 
my  bones  from  hence"  (50:  25).  He  was  confident 
that  the  promise  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob 
would  be  fulfilled,  and  that  Canaan  should  be 
theirs.  While  there  was  this  earthly  hope  and 
the  type  was  complete  in  his  belief  in  the  promise, 
the  question  may  arise  whether  he  was  equally  cer- 
tain about  the  heavenly  Canaan.  Joseph  lived  for 
the  most  of  his  life,  where  they  sought  to  realize 
immortality  by  keeping  the  body  from  corruption. 
This  shows  the  longing  of  the  human  mind  to 
escape  death.  The  Egyptians  carried  this  to  an 
extreme  when  they  made  mummies  of  cats  and 
bulls.  But  beyond  the  care  of  the  mortal,  there  is 
the  innate  longing  for  continued  existence  which  is 
a  part  of  our  nature.  When  God  made  man  in  his 
own  image,  a  part  of  that  image  was  to  be  im- 
mortal, just  as  God  himself  is.  And  though  man 
fell,  yet  the  immortal  was  not  annihilated,  nor  the 
hope  of  it  banished  through  sin  and  corruption. 
As  reason  and  conscience  existed  though  de- 
throned, so  with  the  hope  of  immortality,  though 
death  was  pronounced.  This  hope  was  strength- 
ened before  the  Flood  by  the  translation  of  Enoch. 
When  God  called  Abraham,  there  was  not  only 
a  promise  about  the  possession  of  Canaan,  but  a 
statement  of  his  relation  to  God,  that  in  him  per- 
sonally, rather  than  in  his  gifts,  would  be  "his 
exceeding  great  reward"  (15:1).  In  the  unseen 
and  spiritual  he  was  to  look  for  his  support  and 
joy,  more  than  in  the  earthly.        To  Jacob  was 


JOSEPH  157 

given  the  vision  of  the  open  heavens  and  the  way 
of  access  there.  He  felt  that  aUjne  there  in  Bethel 
he  was  near  God's  home  and  close  by  the  gateway 
to  Heaven,  up  which  the  angels  invited  him  to  as- 
cend. Very  properly  therefore  docs  the  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  describe  the  Patri- 
archs as  seeking  a  heavenly  country,  and  that  God 
had  prepared  for  them  as  well  as  us  a  City  (Heb. 
11 :  13-16).  Joseph  we  must  consider  as  a  sharer 
in  these  hopes  of  immortality.  God  was  to  him  a 
Saviour,  causing  good  to  come  out  of  evil,  ruling 
Egypt  as  well  as  Canaan  as  its  sovereign,  having 
his  home  in  Heaven.  The  earthly  promise  was 
only  a  part — a  foretaste  of  those  open  gates  which 
his  father  saw,  when  the  angels  ascended  and  de- 
scended to  help  the  human  towards  the  divine. 

UNITY   OF   REVELATION 

1.  After  having  passed  in  review  the  first  chap- 
ter of  divine  revelation,  or  the  beginnings  of  grace 
as  shown  to  the  individual,  the  first  thought  that 
impresses  us  is  the  unity  of  the  divine  plan  and 
purpose  in  Revelation.  It  is  as  the  Apostle  says, 
"the  gospel  preached  beforehand  to  Abraham" 
(Gal.  3:6).  It  was  not  only  that  Christ  should 
come — but  that  salvation  is  for  sinners  like  Jacob 
— through  faith  like  Abraham — breathed  out  in 
prayer,  as  in  Jacob  changed  to  Israel.  And  then 
in  Joseph  we  have  the  type  of  the  forgiving, 
exalted  Saviour.  Surely  here  is  not  a  little  of  the 
fundamentals  of  the  gospel  foreshadowed  for  the 


158        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

guidance  of  believers  before  Christ  came  in  the 
flesh. 

REVELATION   FROM   GOD 

2,  The  unity  of  Revelation  emphasizes  the  fact 
that  its  beginnings  as  well  as  its  fulness  are  from 
God.  The  fruit  is  the  outcome  of  the  blossom 
which  began  when  Abraham  was  called  out  of  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees.  That  there  should  have  been  so 
much  of  truth  revealed  then,  when  all  the  world 
was  going  astray,  shows  clearly  that  its  source 
was  not  Babylonian  or  of  any  other  human  origin, 
but  from  God. 

SUFFERING   AND    EXALTATION 

S.  It  is  a  little  singular  how  the  two  ideas  of 
a  suffering  and  an  exalted  Saviour — which  seemed 
to  the  Jews  so  irreconcilable — were  kept  side  by 
side  all  through  the  Old  Testament.  The  two 
great  sources  for  faith  and  thought  to  dwell  upon 
were  type  and  promise — type  indicated  that  the 
way  of  access  to  God  was  by  blood,  and  on  the 
other  hand  was  the  promise  of  victory  and  bless- 
ing through  the  seed  of  Abraham.  In  Joseph  as 
a  type  of  Christ  two  ideas  were  combined — hu- 
miliation and  exaltation,  slavery  and  kingly 
power.  As  the  humiliation  was  on  earth  so  would 
the  exaltation  be,  Egypt  governed  by  the  word  of 
Joseph,  or  the  world  accepting  the  laws  and  prin- 
ciple of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  The  humiliation 
was  of  a  different  character  in  David,  the  great 
national  type  of  the  Messiah.    There  was  more  of 


JOSEPH  159 

suflFering  because  of  sin,  and  patient  waiting  for 
the  kingdom,  but  yet  it  was  triumph  and  subjuga- 
tion of  enemies,  and  the  exaltation  prolonged  in 
Solomon's  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign.  In  this 
anticipated  glory  of  the  Son  of  David,  suffering 
and  humiliation  were  forgotten,  and  so  they  re- 
jected the  Christ  when  he  actually  came  in  the 
flesh.  May  the  reverse  not  be  true  of  us  that  we 
forget  his  exultation  and  second  coming;  and  so 
neglect  to  co-work  with  him  in  establishing  the 
spiritual,  which  is  ever  true  glory  of  his  reign 
upon  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  FAMILY— (1)   MARRIAGE 

The  first  step  in  the  beginnings  of  things  in 
grace  is  the  relation  of  the  individual  soul  to  God. 
The  next  step  is  the  relation  of  the  family  to  God. 
With  reference  to  the  family  we  begin  with  mar- 
riage. For  upon  the  right  understanding  of  that 
relation,  depends  very  largely  the  happiness  and 
right  influence  of  the  home. 

1.  The  origin  of  marriage  is  given  in  the  sec- 
ond chapter  of  Genesis.  God  made  an  help  suited 
for  man,  as  it  was  plain  from  want  of  congenial 
companionship  that  it  was  not  good  for  him  to 
be  alone.  The  beasts  had  been  brought  before 
Adam  and  he  had  named  them.  If  he  had  de- 
scended from  them,  he  might  have  found  the  re- 
move from  them  not  too  great,  to  prevent  compan- 
ionship. But  the  father  of  our  race  was  not  a  brute, 
nor  the  son  of  a  brute,  but  made  by  his  Creator 
to  rule  over  them.  The  formation  of  woman  from 
man,  and  in  a  single  pair,  was  significant  of  the 
law  of  marriage.  Animals  seem  to  have  been  cre- 
ated in  groups  or  swarms — but  here  is  one  man 
and  one  woman,  indicating  a  monogamous  instead 
of  a  polygamous  union.  And  besides  this,  the  in- 
timacy of  the  union  was  signified.  It  was  bone  of 
his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh.  So  that  the  rule 
starts  from  the  very  beginning.  "Therefore,  shall 
a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother  and  shall 

160 


THE  FAMILY  161 

cleave  unto  his  wife;  jukI  they  shall  be  one  flesli" 
(v.  S^).  A  union  so  perfect  was  not  to  be  inter- 
fered with,  either  by  taking  other  wives,  or  by  di- 
vorce, except  when  there  is  a  fundamental  violation 
of  the  contract  by  either  of  the  parties.  To  this 
original  law,  our  Saviour  brought  back  the  insti- 
tution, saying  to  the  plea  of  the  Jews  that  Moses 
had  allowed  divorce  for  other  reasons,  "In  the  be- 
ginning it  was  not  so"  (Matt.  19:  8).  This  primal 
law  of  Paradise  was  enforced  by  various  incidents 
in  the  course  of  the  narrative. 

The  first  temptation  to  vary  from  the  marriage 
contract  was  presented  to  Abraham  in  the  fact 
that  the  promise  seemed  likely  to  fail  through 
want  of  offspring.  After  what  seemed  a  very 
long  waiting,  Sarah  persuaded  her  husband  to 
take  her  maid  as  his  concubine.  But  the  promised 
seed  was  not  to  be  through  Hagar,  but  by  the  law- 
ful wife.  It  is  true  there  is  nothing  said  about 
the  unlawfulness  of  the  secondary  marriage;  but 
the  natural  results  in  a  disturbed  household  were 
plainly  manifest.  The  concubine,  as  the  mother 
as  she  supposed,  of  the  promised  heir,  was  led  to 
despise  her  mistress  and  this  led  to  her  banishment 
from  home,  even  before  the  birth  of  Ishmael.  And 
then  when  Isaac  was  weaned,  Sarah,  jealous  of 
what  was  perhaps  boyish  raillery  on  the  part  of  his 
half-brother,  who  was  fourteen  years  the  senior, 
insisted  upon  the  bondwoman  and  her  son  being 
cast  out.  It  was  not  easy  for  Abraham  to  con- 
sent  to  this,   for   his   heart  yearned  towards   his 


162        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

eldest  son,  but  directed  by  God,  he  followed  his 
wife's  advice.  Ishmael,  who  doubtless,  had  been 
for  a  time  recognized  as  son  and  heir  of  his 
father's  position  and  wealth,  was  remanded  back 
to  his  mother's  servile  position.  If  this  was  not 
a  rebuke  to  the  departure  from  the  law  of  mat- 
rimony, it  certainly  Avas  honor  put  on  the  original 
marriage  as  the  one  to  be  recognized  in  the  line 
of  promise. 

1.  The  trouble  and  difficulty  in  a  polygamous 
marriage  is  again  brought  to  life  in  the  case  of 
Jacob.  The  one  whom  he  chose  and  who  would  have 
been  his  only  wife,  was  Rachel.  But  Laban,  who 
cared  more  for  the  customs  of  the  country  than  his 
promise  gave  him  Leah  instead  of  Rachel — so 
eventually  he  had  four  wives  instead  of  one.  Rachel 
the  loved  one,  envied  Leah  because  the  children 
were  hers,  and  Leah  envied  Rachel  the  affection 
of  her  husband.  Rachel,  however,  continued  to 
hold  the  primary  place  in  Jacob's  affection,  and 
her  children  were  the  honored  and  also  the  envied 
ones  in  the  household.  If  the  sons  of  Jacob  had 
all  been  the  sons  of  one  mother,  it  is  hardly  to  be 
supposed  that  the  plot  against  Joseph  would  have 
assumed  such  dark  proportions,  as  to  plan  against 
his  life,  and  then  sell  him  as  a  slave. 

2.  While  there  was  this  clear  intimation  that 
marriage  should  be  confined  to  one  man  and  one 
woman,  there  was  no  positive  prohibition  against 
polygamy.  With  reference  however,  to  the  sanc- 
tity of  marriage,  which  polygamy  does  so  much  to 


THE  FAMILY  163 

weaken,  the  teaching  was  very  explicit.  On  two 
different  occasions,  once  in  Egypt  and  once  in 
Canaan,  was  this  lesson  taught  Abraham  (chs. 
12  and  20).  Abraham  was  fearful  that  in 
his  wanderings  among  powerful  princes,  he  would 
be  taken  and  killed  for  the  sake  of  his  wife;  so 
he  persuaded  her  to  say  that  she  was  his  sister. 
Doubtless  there  was  ground  for  this  fear,  and 
Sarah  seems  to  have  been  actually  taken  to  the 
harems  of  Pharaoh  and  AbinRlccli,  How  Abraham 
expected  to  recover  his  wife,  we  do  not  know,  but 
it  became  an  occasion  of  divine  rebuke  in  both  in- 
stances. The  design  of  rebuke  was  to  teach  in 
the  most  emphatic  way  possible,  the  sanctity  of 
the  marriage  relation.  The  tie  was  indissoluble, 
admitting  of  no  trifling  or  laying  aside.  It  was 
better  even  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  life  itself, 
than  to  violate  this  union.  There  was  a  rebuke 
of  Abraham's  prevarication  and  want  of  trust  in 
God's  providence,  Abimelech  also  was  threatened 
with  death,  if  he  did  not  restore  the  woman  whom 
he  had  unwittingly  taken,  and  the  reason  given 
was  that  she  was  a  man's  wife.  ( 20 :  3 ) .  It  is 
a  little  singular  that  Isaac  should  have  committed 
over  again  the  mistake  of  his  father,  and  in  the 
same  place,  three-quarters  of  a  century  later 
(26:7).  He  was  rebuked  by  Abimelech,  who 
seemed  to  remember  better  than  Isaac,  the  warn- 
ing given  to  his  father;  and  did  not  proceed  as 
far  in  attempting  to  take  her  away  from  her  hus- 
band.    This  threefold  repetition  shows  the  prone- 


164        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

ness  of  men  to  disregard  the  sanctity  of  this  rela- 
tion, and  how  positively  it  was  the  purpose  of 
God  to  enforce  the  rule  on  this  subject  and  guard 
it  by  the  strongest  penalties.  We  see  the  effect 
of  this  teaching  in  the  case  of  Joseph.  The  temp- 
tation came  in  a  way  so  easy  to  be  concealed,  that 
it  was  only  a  strong  sense  of  the  greatness  of  the 
sin  that  made  him  proof  against  it.  He  had  been 
taught  by  the  way  God  had  dealt  with  his  ances- 
tors, that  he  should  beware  of  incurring  his  dis- 
pleasure. He  would  trust  in  God's  providence  to 
vindicate  the  right,  and  he  did  not  trust  in  vain. 

Another  lesson  about  the  sanctity  of  marriage 
is  inculcated  in  this  connection  with  reference  to 
continence  between  unmarried  persons,  as  in  the 
case  of  Dinah  (ch  34).  The  sin  was  not  in  its 
worst  form,  as  marriage  was  proposed,  but  the 
insult  and  disgrace  to  their  sister,  her  two  brothers 
were  determined  should  be  revenged.  The  man- 
ner of  showing  this  resentment  cannot  be  justified, 
but  the  deed  done  was  wrong.  Perhaps  the  ven- 
geance was  allowed,  to  show  in  the  midst  of  those 
nations  the  necessity  for  moral  purity.  And  the 
restraint,  which  kept  them  from  pursuing  the  sons 
of  Jacob,  doubtless  had  the  approval  of  conscience, 
that  though  conducted  with  too  great  violence, 
it  was  in  a  measure  justified  because  of  sin  against 
virtue.  And  for  this  reason  it  was  recorded  that 
sin  in  this  direction  is  to  be  carefully  guarded  for 
the  sake  of  the  purity  and  peace  of  society.  For 
men  are  prone  to  excuse  and  allow  indulgence  in 


THE  FAMILY  165 

themselves,  which  if  committed  against  those  re- 
lated to  them,  they  punish  with  the  utmost 
severity. 

3.  Another  point  upon  whicii  light  is  thrown 
is  the  mode  of  entering  upon  tiiis  relation.  Mar- 
riage in  the  Lord,  or  marriage  on  the  ground  of 
religious  rather  than  worldly  considerations,  is 
more  than  once  set  forth.  The  first  plain  viola- 
tion of  such  religious  considerations  was  before 
the  Flood,  when  the  sons  of  God*  or  the  worship- 
pers of  Jehovah  took  them  wives  of  all  which  they 
chose.  Not  only  does  this  indicate  a  tendency  to 
polygamy,  but  the  choice  was  not  based  on  reli- 
gious grounds,  but  on  mere  fancy,  or  as  the  record 
says,  because  they  were  fair.  The  giving  up  of 
a  religious  basis  as  the  ground  of  choice,  resulted 
in  the  bad  education  of  their  offspring,  who  be- 
came men  of  renown — or  as  Calvin  says  "the  first 
nobility  of  the  world  were  honorable  robbers,  who 
boasted  of  their  wickedness."     And  because  of  this 

♦Driver  holds  that  "  the  Sons  of  God"  were  semi-divine, 
supra  mundane  beings.  "It  is  not  apparent,"  he  says,  "why  the 
intermarriage  of  two  races  each  descended  from  a  common 
ancester  should  have  resulted  in  a  race  characterized  by  gigan- 
tic stature  or  abnormal  wickedness."  We  must  see  in  it  an 
ancient  Hebrew  legend  or  (to  use  Delitzsch's  expression)  a 
piece  of  '  unassimilated  mythology  '  the  intention  of  which 
was  to  account  for  the  origin  of  a  supposed  race  of  pre-hisioric 
giants  (Comp.  on  Gen  6:  3).  It  is  well  known,  however,  that 
theocratical  magistrates  as  representations  of  God's  judicial 
sovereignty  are  expressly  called  Elohim  or  gods  (see  Alexan- 
der p.  82:  1).  And  so  the  term  sons  of  God  or  gods  to  repre- 
sent worshippers  of  God  agrees  first  with  the  uniform  teaching 
of  the  Bible  that  the  origin  of  the  human  race  is  from  one 
pair,  and  second,  only  with  this  rendering  does  the  religious 
bearing  of  the  text  have  any  value. 


166        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

wickedness  the  catastrophe  of  the  Deluge  was  vis- 
ited upon  the  old  world. 

When  the  sons  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  were  to 
be  married,  the  question  of  the  proper  person  to 
be  selected,  was  a  matter  of  no  little  solicitude. 
Had  they  been  governed  by  a  worldly  policy  an 
alliance  with  some  of  the  princes  among  whom 
they  were  located  would  have  seemed  wisdom.  It 
would  apparently  have  made  their  residence 
among  them  safe  and  pleasant.  But  then  the 
patriarchs  saw  that  the  result  would  have  been  to 
have  gone  down  to  their  level.  Lot's  family  be- 
came like  those  among  whom  they  dwelt,  copied 
their  standard  of  morals  and  came  near  sharing 
in  their  destruction.  With  the  determination 
therefore  to  keep  free  from  idolatry  and  its  evil 
practices,  Abraham  proposed  to  send  his  servant 
— supposed  to  be  Eliezer  of  Damascus  (15:2) — 
to  Mesopotamia  to  seek  a  wife  among  his  kindred 
for  his  son  (ch.  24).  He  believed  the  Lord  would 
send  his  angel  and  prosper  the  errand  of  his  faith- 
ful servant.  But  if  the  one  sought  would  not  come, 
Isaac  was  not  to  go  there  to  live  (v.  7,  8).  Doubt- 
less at  the  age  of  forty,  he  had  been  consulted  in 
this  matter  and  was  willing  to  abide  by  a  decision 
which  was  prompted  by  religious  rather  than  car- 
nal notions.  He  must  have  seen  those  in  sur- 
rounding tribes  that  would  have  attracted  the 
eye — but  with  him  as  with  his  father  and  the  faith- 
ful Eliezer  there  was  a  disposition  to  abide  the 
guidance   of  the   good  providence  of  God.      His 


THE  FAMILY  167 

religious  character  and  the  wu}'  he  treated  this 
matter  is  seen,  when,  near  the  expected  time  of  the 
return  of  the  camels,  he  went  out  into  the  field  to 
meditate — a  word  associated  in  the  Psalms  with 
meditation  on  religious  subjects  (See  Ps. 
119:  15,  23  and  27).  In  the  same  spirit  that  the 
servant  asked  to  be  guided  in  finding  the  one  whom 
the  Lord  had  appointed,  he  would  hope  and  ask 
that  the  journey  and  the  object  of  it  might  be 
blessed  and  terminated  sucessfully. 

Jacob's  quest  in  the  same  direction  and  for  a 
similar  object,  was  mixed  up  with  the  desire  to  es- 
cape from  the  wrath  of  his  brother;  but  still  the 
main  object  in  his  going  must  have  seemed  near  a 
realization  when  he  saw  the  beautiful  Rachel  and 
loved  her  with  such  ardor  that  the  seven  years  of 
service  for  her,  seemed  but  a  few  days. 

The  space  taken  up  with  these  narratives  and 
the  divine  guidance  involved,  show  that  religious 
considei'ations  and  prayer  for  guidance  should 
control  our  thought  and  action  in  this  important 
step  of  life. 

It  is  difficult  to  leave  this  subject  without  a  re- 
mark or  two.  1.  The  primal  law  of  marriage 
is  not  one  evolved  by  man's  experience,  but  one 
laid  down  by  the  Creator  at  the  very  beginning. 
It  is  one  which  man  has  been  disposed  to  disobey ; 
but  the  experience  of  mankind,  as  well  as  the 
authority  of  Christ,  which  brings  us  back  to  this 
primal  law,  has  proved  to  be  the  wisest  and  best. 

2.      That  if  men  acted  on  the  conviction,  that 


168        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

religious  considerations  should  control  their 
actions  in  this  matter,  and  should  seek  divine 
guidance  before  entering  upon  such  an  intimate 
life  union,  there  would  be  less  disposition  to  dis- 
solve it  by  seeking  a  divorce. 

3.  Literature  and  public  sentiment  need  to  be 
educated  to  see  that  love,  like  all  other  affections 
and  impulses  of  our  nature,  is  to  be  under  the 
control  of  the  divine  will.  Fancy  and  passion  may 
be  strong,  but  if  wrong,  they  must  be  con- 
quered. Love  at  sight  or  the  power  of  passion 
are  not  the  polar  stars,  which  are  to  indicate  our 
course  in  life,  as  if  the  Fates  or  Cupid  were  our 
gods  instead  of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth. 
Let  love  to  him  be  first,  and  not  love  to  the  crea- 
ture. The  bride  sought  in  obedience  to  duty  and 
to  whose  presence  and  home,  the  faithful  servant, 
in  answer  to  prayer  was  guided,  became,  though 
he  had  never  seen  her,  the  beloved  wife  of  Isaac. 
A  mother's  loss,  who  had  loved  him  as  her  only 
child  and  as  the  child  of  promise,  was  more  than 
made  good  in  this  new  relation.  Our  methods  are 
different,  but  the  underlying  principle  should  be 
the  same.  And  the  result  in  life  long  happiness 
will  mark  heaven's  approval. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    FAMILY— (2)    THE    TRAINING    OF 
CHILDREN 

We  have  seen  how  in  the  primal  law  of  marriage 
God  had  regard  for  the  family,  1st,  in  guarding 
against  promiscuous  marriage  as  among  beasts, 
which,  according  to  some,  was  the  condition  of  our 
ancestors ;  and  2d,  against  polygamous  marriage, 
which  would  have  entailed  envy,  jealousy  and  mur- 
der as  seen  in  the  most  favorable  circumstances 
in  the  household  of  Jacob;  or  3d,  guarding 
against  any  method  of  concubinage  or  divorce.  God 
honored  the  original  bond,  as  in  the  case  of  Sarah 
and  her  son,  instead  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael. 
Three  times  was  the  law  of  the  sancity  of  marriage, 
which  admitted  of  no  trifling,  much  less  of  divorce, 
repeated  to  Abraham  and  Isaac.  And  Joseph 
stood  by  the  rule,  thus  inculcated,  even  to  im- 
prisonment under  a  false  accusation. 

More  directly  with  regard  to  the  family,  these 
three  things  show  the  importance  of  religion  in 
that  relation.  1st,  the  acceptance  of  the  seal  of 
the  convenant.  2d,  the  position  given  to  worship 
by  the  head  of  the  household.  3d,  the  recognition 
of  the  duty  of  training  children. 

ACCEPTANCE   OF   THE   SEAL   OF   THE    COVENANT 

1.  With  reference  to  the  first,  the  acceptance  of 
169 


170        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  seal  of  the  covenant,  it  is  not  important  whether 
that  seal  was  something  new  and  given  to  Abra- 
ham for  the  first  time,  or  whether  it  had  been  in 
use  among  the  Egyptians  before  this  period. 
Baptism,  as  a  rite  and  significant  of  cleansing, 
had  been  in  use  long  before  Christ  set  it  apart,  as 
connected  with  the  Christian  system.  "Circum- 
cision was  practised  as  early  as  the  period  of  the 
2d  dynasty  (3998-3721  B.  C.  Petrie),  and  whence 
Herodotus  declares  that  the  custom  spread  to  the 
Ethiopians,  the  Phoenicians  and  the  Syrians  of 
Palestine  (i.  e.,  the  Jews)"  (See  Driver's  Gen.  p. 
189).  The  difficulty  is  to  account  for  the  intro- 
duction and  continuance  of  such  a  rite.  Driver 
suggests  that  it  was  an  initiation  into  manhood. 
The  age  at  which  it  was  performed  was  seven 
to  ten  in  Egypt,  and  among  the  Ishmaelites  thir- 
teen, according  to  the  age  of  their  ancestor,  when 
he  received  the  rite.  If  this  is  the  correct  state- 
ment about  circumcision  among  the  nations,  it 
was  a  very  different  thing  as  practised  by  the 
Jews.  The  time  for  its  performance  was  in  in- 
fancy— when  the  child  was  eight  days  old.  And 
then  it  was  a  sign  of  a  covenant.  God  on  his  part, 
promised  to  be  a  God  unto  them,  and  to  give  them 
the  land  of  their  sojoumings  for  an  everlasting 
possession.  In  making  the  children  partakers 
of  the  sign  of  the  covenant,  the  idea  was  that  they 
were  included  in  the  blessing  promised  to  their 
fathers.  Parents  give  their  worldly  possessions  to 
their  children  and  in  this  rite,  God  took  hold  of 


THE  FAMILY  171 

the  parental  instinct  and  continues  the  blessing, 
and  promises  of  religion  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions. 

Another  idea  dwelt  upon  at  a  later  period,  was 
the  spiritual  import  of  circumcision,  and  that  was 
the  subjugation  of  carnal  appetites  to  the  divine 
law.  The  heart,  as  well  as  the  body,  was  to  be 
circumcised. 

As  far,  however,  as  the  family  was  concerned, 
this  rite  drew  the  children  into  allegiance  to  the 
God  of  Israel.  They  were  consecrated  by  the 
parents  to  his  service  and  were  to  be  co-partners 
in  the  blessings  promised. 

WORSHIP    IN    THE    HOUSEHOLD 

2.  Another  mark  of  family  religion  and  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  worshipper  of  Jehovah  was  the 
prominence  given  to  that  worship,  especially  by 
Abraham,  whenever  he  pitched  his  tent.  He  did 
so  at  his  very  first  coming  into  the  land  of 
Canaan,  when  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him, 
(12:  7)  and  at  his  next  removal  repeated  it,  build- 
ing an  altar  and  calling  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord  (12:8).  So  also  at  Hebron  (13:18)  and 
at  Beersheba,  where  he  planted  a  grove  and  called 
on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  the  everlasting  God 
(21:33).  It  is  significantly  said  of  his  first  ap- 
pearance in  this  region,  "and  the  Canaanite  was 
then   in   the   land"   (12:6).      In   the  midst   of  an 


172        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

idolatrous*  people,  Abraham  comes  with  his  com- 
pany of  1500  to  2000  persons,  accompanied  with 
their  flocks  and  herds,  and  is  especially  distin- 
guished from  the  people  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded, as  a  worshipper  of  Jehovah — the  living 
and  true  God.  Abraham  was  the  head  of  a 
nomadic  tribe  and  could  arm  over  three  hundred 
men  for  war,  but  he  was  not  a  warrior,  except 
when  necessity  required.  He  was  not  a  mere 
herdsman — feeding  and  caring  for  his  flocks,  but 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  his  life  was  that  he 
believed  in  and  worshipped  an  unseen  God.  An 
altar  dedicated  to  him,  was  in  the  center  of  his 
encampment,  and  doubtless  smoked  with  the  burn- 
ing of  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice.  Abra- 
ham acted  as  the  head  and  priest  of  his  family, 
and  would,  in  this  respect,  be  followed  by  the 
other  patriarchs,  as  they  followed  his  example 
in  practising  the  rite  of  circumcision.  For 
typical  reasons  a  change  was  made  in  the  priest- 
hood,  limiting  it  to  the   family   of   Aaron.      But 

*  While  it  is  evident  that  the  majority  of  the  Canaanites 
were  idolaters,  yet  there  were  remains  of  a  more  correct  faith. 
Melchisedek  is  called  a  priest  of  the  most  high  God  and 
seems  from  his  age  or  position  to  have  held  a  recognized 
supremacy  over  the  surrounding  chieftains  (14:  18-20). 
Abimelech  warned  of  God  recognized  who  it  was  that  ad- 
dressed him,  calling  him  Lord  and  feeling  that  he  could  not 
destroy  the  righteous  (20: 3).  Abraham  it  is  true  feared  that 
that  knowledge  of  God  was  slight  (5:  11).  The  degeneracy 
of  Sodom  showed  that  there  at  least,  the  fear  of  God  had  lost 
its  practical  effect.  And  as  idolatory  had  crept  into  the  fam- 
ily of  Laban  in  the  time  of  Rachel  (31 :  19)  so  it  seems  to  have 
made  more  positive  inroads  among  the  tribes  of  Canaan. 
Hence  the  need  of  new  testimony  on  the  part  of  Abraham 
before  these  natives  were  cut  off. 


THE  FAMILY  173 

the  religious  service  of  which  the  altar  was  the 
type,  belongs  in  all  generations,  to  the  head  of 
the  family.  He  is  the  priest  and  leader  in  relig- 
ious thought  and  devotion  in  that  little  world  of 
influence,  which  helps  so  mightily  in  building  up 
religion  in  the  Church  and  in  the  State.  The 
example  of  Abraham  is  set  before  us  as  the  rule 
for  all  families,  and  one  of  the  ways,  by  which  the 
clearer  gospel  brought  through  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, is  to  bless  all  the  families  of  the  earth. 

FAMILY   INSTRUCTION 

3.  With  regard  to  the  direct  training  of  chil- 
dren and  servants,  there  is  this  statement  on  the 
part  of  Jehovah  himself,  "For  I  have  known  him 
to  the  end  that  he  may  command  his  children  and 
his  household  after  him,  that  they  may  keep  the 
way  of  the  Lord  to  do  justice  and  judgment 
(18:19  R.  v.).  Abraham  had  already  been 
twenty-five  years  in  the  promised  land  and  what 
he  had  already  done  was  evidence  that  he 
would  continue  in  the  same  path  of  duty.  There 
is  a  slight  difference  of  meaning  in  the  R.  V.  from 
the  authorized, — the  former  emphasizing  the  fact 
that  the  purpose  of  God  was  to  continue  in  Abra- 
ham's descendants  a  recognition  of  true  religion 
in  doing  justice  and  judgment,  by  this  family 
training.  The  hope  for  the  perpetuity  of  religion 
from  one  generation  to  another,  rested  upon  the 
proper  care  of  parents  in  the  government  of  chil- 
dren.    The  term  command  shows  an  authority  on 


174        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  part  of  parents,  which  is  not  exercised,  and 
not  even  thought  of,  by  the  majority  of  parents  in 
these  days.  Government  was  patriarchal,  which, 
in  the  family  where  love  restrains  undue  authority, 
ought  to  be  wise.  The  kind  of  training*  exercised 
in  the  family,  or  household,  outside  of  the  children, 
was  reflected  in  the  servant,  who  was  sent  to  Meso- 
potamia, to  secure  a  wife  for  Isaac.  His  implicit 
reliance  on  divine  guidance  showed  an  amount  of 
faith  and  trust  which  would  have  done  credit  to 
his  master  Abraham.  This  training  of  the  house- 
hold has  passed  out  of  modern  experience  almost 
entirely.  If,  in  our  altered  circumstances,  the 
responsibility  could  be  felt  and  acted  upon  that 
the  religious  condition  of  those  employed  or  de- 
pendent upon  us,  rested  upon  the  master  or  em- 
ployer, some  of  the  evils  which  now  threaten 
society  might  be  averted.  There  is  a  proper 
Christian  communism,  where  labor  and  capital, 
employer  and  employee,  master  and  servant,  meet 
on  a  common  level,  before  the  one  Lord  and 
Father  of  us  all.  This  idea  was  set  forth  as  well 
as  it  could  be  in  that  dispensation  by  servant  and 
master  sharing  in  the  same  religious  rites  and  by 
the  master  feeling  the  responsibility  and  care  of 
his  household  in  instructing  them  as  well  as  his 
children. 

*Some  might  think  when  Abraham  took  318  trained  ser- 
vants to  rescue  Lot,  that  the  training  was  especially  for  war. 
But  while  such  discipline  may  not  have  been  neglected,  other 
incidents  show  that  another  training  was  as  carefully  attended 
to,  which  would  help  in  the  service  and  worship  of  God. 


THE  FAMILY  176 

It  should,  perhaps,  be  noticed  that  this  refer- 
ence to  family  training  is  placed  in  connection 
with  that  remarkable  destruction  of  the  cities  of 
the  plain.  As  elsewhere  in  the  Bible,  there  are 
twofold  motives  given  for  obedience — one  by  the 
blessings  promised,  and  the  other  by  punishment 
on  disobedience.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the 
birth  of  Isaac  was  definitely  promised  (18:9-15), 
when,  according  to  human  expectations,  it  seemed 
impossible.  And,  at  the  same  time,  by  the  de- 
struction of  the  cities  of  the  plain  (ch.  19),  was 
enforced  the  lesson  of  Lot's  mistaken  choice  in 
locating  his  family  where  the  surroundings  were 
favorable  for  the  accumulation  of  property,  but 
exceedingly  bad  for  the  training  of  his  family; 
and  where  the  lesson  of  destruction  upon  the 
wicked  was  so  placed  upon  the  borders  of  the 
promised  land  that  it  should  be  a  constant  re- 
minder to  the  children  of  Israel  that  however  sin 
might  prosper  for  a  time,  it  would  not  go  unpun- 
ished. 

Note. — In  order  to  understand  the  destruction 
of  the  cities  of  the  plain,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  the  Dead  or  Salt  Sea  had  no  ex- 
istence before  the  time  of  Abraham.  Geologists 
affirm  that  it  existed  from  early  Tertiary  times. 
(Dawson  on  "Science  in  Bible  Lands,"  p.  481.) 
But  that  docs  not  settle  the  question  about  its  ex- 
tent or  the  subsidence  of  portions  of  its  shores. 
Some  think  that  the  southern  portion  below  the 
peninsula,  which  was  only  a  depth  of  about  thir- 


176        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

teen  feet,  whereas  the  northern  end  has  an  aver- 
age depth  of  over  one  thousand  feet,  is  the  site  of 
these  cities.  Others  think  that  the  plain  of  the 
Jordan  which  Lot  chose,  and  which  could  be  seen 
from  Bethel  was  the  location.  The  bituminous 
condition  of  the  soil,  the  presence  of  salt  and  sul- 
phur, and  possibly  earthquake  changes  in  a  region 
where  they  are  so  common,  would  account  for  the 
overthrow  of  those  cities,  as  so  vividly  described 
by  an  apparent  eye-witness :  "The  smoke  of  the 
country  went  up  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace." 
(19:28). 


CHAPTER   XV 

BEGINNINGS  OF  GRACE  IN  THE  NATION 

In  speaking  of  the  beginning  of  things  in  grace, 
the  plan  was  to  speak  of  the  beginnings  of  grace 
first  in  the  individual,  then  in  the  family,  and 
lastly  in  the  nation.  Logically  this  would  have 
involved  an  attempt  to  follow  the  Jewish  nation 
(1)  in  its  deliverance  from  Egypt,  (2)  its  period 
of  instruction  in  the  wilderness,  and  (3)  their 
settlement  in  the  land  of  promise.  Such  an  at- 
tempt necessitated  a  survey  of  the  remaining 
books  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  book  of  Joshua. 
As  this  would  have  required  another  volume,  I 
content  myself  with  stating  some  of  the  principles 
upon  which  such  a  survey  would  have  been  con- 
ducted. 

GOD    THE   AUTHOR    OF    REVELATION 

1.  It  has  been  a  great  satisfaction  to  reach  the 
conclusion,  that  not  only  did  God  create  the  world 
and  place  man,  whom  he  made  in  his  image,  to 
rule  it,  but  that  when  he  fell,  he  began  a  plan  of 
salvation  reaching  through  the  ages — a  plan 
whose  fundamental  principles  are  the  same,  and 
yet  vary  as  the  blossom  differs  from  the  fruit. 

CHANGES    IN    FORM    OF    WORSHIP 

2.  The  changes  cluster  around  certain  lines, 
which  already  appear  in  the  treatment  of  the  in- 

177 


178        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

dividual  in  Genesis.  These  changes  appear  espe- 
cially in  sacrifice  or  the  way  of  approach  to  God. 
(1)  The  first  change  was  in  the  officer  or  priest. 
In  Genesis  it  was  the  head  of  the  family  or  tribe. 
Henceforth  it  was  to  center  in  one  Great  High 
Priest  as  the  head  of  the  nation  and  a  type  of  the 
high  priesthood  of  Christ.  With  him  were  to 
serve  the  members  of  his  family  as  priests  and  the 
tribe  of  Levi  as  helpers  to  the  priest.  (2) 
Change  in  the  victim  or  sacrifice  was  from  an  un- 
written to  a  written  and  elaborate  code.  Abel 
offered  a  lamb  of  the  flock.  Noah  "took  of  every 
clean  beast  and  of  every  clean  bird  and  offered 
burnt  offerings  upon  the  altar"  (Gen.  8:20).  In 
the  Mosaic  Dispensation  different  beasts  or  birds 
were  assigned  for  different  offences.  The  third 
change  was  in  the  erection  of  a  tabernacle  with 
its  worship,  instead  of  the  now  simple  worship 
at  an  altar  wherever  the  tent  was  pitched.  This 
worship  defined  more  clearly  the  method  of  ap- 
proach to  God — first  by  the  brazen  altar  the  blood 
of  the  substitute,  then  the  cleansing,  and  the 
golden  altar  in  the  holy  place,  before  God,  in  his 
supreme  essence  and  glory  was  revealed  to  the 
worshipper.  These  changes  required  one  place 
of  worship,  one  altar,  one  Sanctuary.  This  one 
Sanctuary  was  at  first  the  Tabernacle,  and  then 
the  Temple.  An  objection  has  been  made  that 
the  Deuteronomic  code  inculcated  one  Sanctuary, 
and  that  this  is  post-exitic.  But  the  one  Sanc- 
tuary grew  out  of  the  change  in  the  High  Priest- 


GRACE  IN  THE  NATION  179 

hood  of  Aaron  and  the  laws  respecting  sacrifices, 
and  belongs  to  Exodus.  And  these  things  Moses 
repeats  at  the  close  of  his  life,  as  he  had,  at  the 
command  of  God,  instituted  them  forty  years 
before.  That  there  should  have  been  a  return  to 
the  old  method  of  family  and  tribal  worship 
under  Samuel,  after  the  capture  of  the  ark,  and 
under  Elijah  and  Elisha,  when  these  prophets 
sought  to  bring  back  the  ten  tribes  to  the  worship 
of  the  God  of  their  fathers,  was  natural  and  ex- 
cusable. And  then  there  is  a  tendency  to  increas- 
ing strictness  in  the  observance  of  an  outward 
form.  Thus  the  Sabbath,  reconsecrated  at  Sinai, 
was  post-exitic  in  the  strictness  of  its  observance. 
Circumcision  was  Abrahamic,  but  the  time  for  the 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  rite  grew  as  the  cen- 
turies passed.  The  same  thing  we  should  expect 
to  be  true  about  the  one  central  Sanctuary.  And 
so  the  facts  of  the  case  only  confirm  rather  than 
overthrow  the  plain  historical  statement. 

TYPICAL   CHARACTER    OF   THE    OLD    TESTAMENT 

3.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  typical 
character  which  was  introduced  in  the  book  of 
Genesis  is  kept  up  through  the  whole  Old  Testa- 
ment history.  Joseph  was  a  type  of  Christ,  and 
Moses  claimed  that  a  prophet  of  the  New  would 
be  raised  up,  as  he  was  a  prophet  of  the  Old.  To 
one  at  all  observant,  it  is  surprising  how  often 
and  constant  these  shadows  and  forecastings  of 
the  future  appear  in  the  details  of  worship  and  in 
the  construction  of  the  Tabernacle,  as  well  as  in 


180        THE  BEGINNING  OF  THINGS 

the  general  course  of  God's  providence.  Christ 
himself  has  given  us  an  example  of  the  way  in 
which  Old  Testament  events  are  to  be  interpreted. 
Manna  was  a  wonderful  provision  for  the  Jews 
in  the  wilderness,  but  it  was  more  than  that.  It 
was  a  t3rpe  of  himself  as  the  true  bread  (John 
6:41).  Paul  enlarges  the  same  idea  in  its  appli- 
cation to  other  things  (as  in  1  Cor.  10).  With 
two  such  interpreters  we  are  not  to  overlook  the 
typical  import  of  many  things  which,  as  simple 
history,  are  obscure.  One  or  two  examples  will 
suffice.  Canaan  was  a  two-fold  type  (1)  of  the 
heavenly  Canaan;  (2)  of  the  possession  and  sub- 
jugation of  the  world  to  Christ.  In  the  literal 
conquest,  thorough  extermination  of  the  inhab- 
itants and  of  idolatry  was  required.  With  dif- 
ferent weapons  and  with  a  higher  end  the  spiritual 
subjugation  should  be  carried  on.  Every  knee 
must  bow  and  every  tongue  confess.  It  is  true 
that  the  purity  of  the  nation  and  their  separation 
from  surrounding  idolatry  demanded  severe  meas- 
ures. But  beyond  was  the  thought  of  complete 
and  thorough  subjection  to  the  King  of  Kings. 
And  this  subjection  was  anything  but  hard- 
hearted and  cruel.  Similar  was  the  teaching  of 
loyalty  and  obedience,  in  subsequent  history.  It 
demanded  harsh  acts  in  the  literal  and  outward 
type.  But  the  lesson  was  absolutely  necessary. 
To  obey  was  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken 
than  the  fat  of  lambs.  And  the  teaching  of  that 
lesson,  though  it  involved  the  hewing  of  Agag  in 


GRACE  IN  THE  NATION  181 

pieces,  and  the  denunciation  of  enemies  in  the  im- 
precatory psalms,  should  in  no  way  detract  from 
the  character  of  God  as  loving  and  forgiving. 
David  conquered  his  enemies  to  sliow  that  Christ 
would  be  victorious  over  all  his  foes — but  when 
he  thought  to  build  a  temple  to  God's  praise  he 
was  not  allowed  to  do  it  because  he  had  been  a 
man  of  war ;  and  it  was  left  for  his  son — a  man  of 
peace,  typifying  the  great  peace  given.  God  is 
just,  but  he  delights  in  mercy.  It  was  a  just  de- 
duction that  a  Jewish  lawyer  gave  to  Christ's 
enquiry  about  the  teachings  of  the  law,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  soul,  mind  and 
strength  (Luke  10:25).  Love  him  because  he 
has  shown  him  self  a  God  of  Love. 

The  only  correct  and  safe  rule  of  Biblical  inter- 
pretation is  to  follow  the  thought  of  God — the 
author  of  Revelation.  If  it  be  necessary  in  hu- 
man interpretation  to  follow  the  spirit  of  thought 
of  the  author — how  much  more  so  in  a  revelation 
from  God,  to  have  the  spirit  of  God  (See  1  Cor., 
2:  10) — which  sympathizes  with  his  plans  and  the 
methods  he  has  used  in  making  himself  known 
to  the  children  of  men. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abraham,  call  of,  115  f.,  125 
f. ;  courage  of,  133;  faith 
of,  129;  home  of,  126;  hos- 
pitality of,  131 ;  head  of 
tribe,  171;  friend  of  God, 
132;  forgiveness  of,  133; 
joumies  of,  127 ;  obedience 
of,  7,  129;  parents  of,  126; 
patience  of,  130;  prince  of 
God,  133;  priest,  172;  trial 
of,  129;  wife  of,  127. 

Abbott,  Dr.  Lyman,  33. 

Abel,  69. 

Abimelech,  121. 

Adam,  39  flF. 

Adam,  first  and  second,  69. 

Agag,  180. 

Allen,  Dr.  J.,  35. 

Alter,  172,  178. 

Animals,  clean  and  unclean, 
103. 

Animal  life,  33. 

Antidiluvian,  sins  of,  100. 

Ape-like  man,  -tS. 

Atmosphere,  26. 

Arabs,  132. 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  92. 

Ark,  95,  102. 

Babel,  107. 

Babylon,  106. 

Baptism,  170. 

Balaam,  4. 

Bethel,  127,  140. 

Bible,  authorship,  9,  42; 
critics  of,  16  f;  chronology 
of,  9;  inspiration  of  I,  5; 
infallible,  4  f;  revelation  I, 
and  science,  12;  unity  of, 
6,  12  f;  word  of  God  I. 


Braested,  86. 

Brain  development,  of,  65. 

Buddhism,  15. 

Bunyan,  128. 

Cabell,  Dr.  56. 

Cain  and  Abel,  69  f. 

Canaan,  134. 

Caucasian  race,  55. 

Children  Training  of,  169  f. 

Children,  173. 

China,  14. 

Chinese  Sacrifices  of,  71. 

Chronology,  77,  &  9  f . 

Chronology,  Elgyptian,  85. 

Chronology  Babylonian,  85; 
Ushers,  85. 

Christ  Joseph  type  of,  153. 

Circumcision,  118,  170. 

Clement,  5. 

Clay,  Prof.,  83. 

Coal  beds,  29  f. 

Codrington,  110. 

Conscience,  47. 

Confucius,  14. 

Concubine,  161. 

Corruption,  51. 

Covenant  People,  122. 

Covenant  relation,  123. 

Covenant  Seal  of,  169  f. 

Creation,  3,  5,  21  flF;  and 
Buddhism,  15;  of  man,  39 
f,  42  f;  plan  of,  34;  pur- 
pose in,  34. 

Dana,  29,  33,  43,  45,  93,  94,95. 
Davis,  52. 
Dawson,  92,  175. 
Days  in  Genesis,  25. 
Dead  Sea,  175  f. 


185 


186 


INDEX 


Dinah,  164. 

Driver,  21,  26,  49,  51,  53,  63, 
64,  73,  83,  97,  165,  148,  170. 

Death,  Physical,  65;  spirit- 
ual, 65;   eternal,  66. 

Documentary  Theory,  40. 

Duty,  47. 

Eden,  59. 
Election,  117. 
Enoch,  4,  76. 
Erosion,  50. 
Esau,  121. 

Ethnological  Records,  105  f. 
European,  57. 
Evolution,  35  ff,  49,  51. 
Eve,  Mother  of  all  mankind, 
53. 

Fall,  6,  58  f,  50,  60  f,  69. 

Faith,  70. 

Fairbanks,  103. 

Family,  160,  169;  instruc- 
tion, 173. 

Fernander,  110. 

Flood,  16,  99  f ;  Babylonian 
story  of,  97 ;  limited,  96 ; 
Universality  of,  98. 

Garden  of  Eden,  58  f. 

Geology,  80. 

Glacial  Period,  44,  46,  91. 

Grace  toward  the  Individual, 
115. 

Green,  Prof.,  85. 

God.  Creator,  2,  49;  charac- 
ter of,  78 ;  fatherhood  of,  53 ; 
truthfulness  of,  6  f ;  moral 
government  of,  7 ;  words  of 
if,  6,  22;  works  of  if,  6, 
22. 

Guidance,  119. 

Guyot,  23. 

Haeckel,  25,  35. 

Hall,  Wilford,  23. 

Hagar,  119. 

Hamilton,  Sir  William,  23. 


Hamraurami  Code,    127,  150. 
Haran,  127,  128. 
Henry,  Matthew,  60. 
Hill's  Theology,  72. 
Hindoo,  109. 
Holy  Spirit,  8. 
Hottentot,  57. 
Household,  Worship  in,  171; 

training  of,  174. 
Hvmger  for  God,  48. 
Huxley,  43. 

Idolatry,  14,  117  f. 
Individual,   147;    responsibil- 
ity, 48. 
Indians,  56. 
Inundation  mud,  92. 
Inspiration,  1  ff;  verbal,    42. 
Image  of  God,  49. 
Immortality,  48,  63,  156. 
Isaac,  121,  123,  129,  136. 
Ishmael,  161. 

Jacob,  121  f ;  and  Abraham, 
136 ;  and  angel,  145 ;  and 
birthright,  138;  dream  of, 
140;  and  Esau,  137,  143; 
falsehood  of,  138 ;  humility 
of,  144;  and  Laban,  141; 
and  Leah,  141;  liberality 
of,  142;  the  supplanter, 
137;  and  prayer,  135  f; 
vow  of,  142. 

Jehovah,  41. 

Jesus,  truthfulness  of,  7  f ; 
character  of,  8;  resurrec- 
tion of,  8 ;  reign  of,  14. 

Job,  4,  6. 

Josephus,  136. 

Joseph,  123,  147  ff;  cheerful- 
ness of,  151 ;  courage  of, 
153;  dreams  of,  148;  sold 
into  Egypt,  149;  exalta- 
tion of,  154;  forgiveness, 
152,  155;  his  home  life, 
148;  his  home  training, 
150;  humiliation  of,  151; 
religion   of,    150;    resigna. 


INDEX 


187 


tion  of,  151 ;  suffering  of, 
158;  temptation  of,  152; 
type  of  Messiah,  15S. 

Kant,  82. 

Kawi  Language,  110. 

Kent,  127. 

Knapp's  Theology,  71. 

Laban,  121,  141,  143. 
Labor,  59. 

Land  Depression  of,  90. 
Land  Creation  of,  27  f. 
Lange,  109,  110. 
Lamech,  74,  7(),  101. 
Leah,  162. 
LeConte,  28,  35,  36. 
Lemuria,  56. 
Lewis,  108. 

Life,  author  of,  23,  34;   ani- 
mal and  vegetable,  34. 
Light,  24. 

Likeness  to  God,  49. 
Lot,  127,  132,  175. 
Love,  181. 

Man  Antiquity  of,  43;  broth- 
erhood of,  53;  his  com- 
munion with  God,  48; 
creation  of,  39  f,  42  f; 
created  perfect,  63;  when 
created,  80,  82;  his  place 
in  creation,  '.U;  before  the 
flood,  87  f ;  immortality  of, 
47;  moral  being,  47  f; 
religions  being,  47  f ;  spirit- 
ual nature  of,  46  f;  unity 
of,  53  f. 

Marriage,  54f,  130, 160f,  165; 
Abraham's  violation  of 
vows,  161 ;  Christ  view  of, 
161;  divine  guidance  in, 
168;  of  Isaac,  166;  of 
Jacob,  167;  Jacob's  viola- 
tion (if  vows,  162;  Joseph 
regard  for,  164;  origin  of, 
160;   primeval  law  of,  168. 

Matter,  22. 


Mastedon,  91,  94. 
Melchisdeck,  4,  117,  129. 
Menes,  86. 
Messianic       promise,       118; 

prophecy,  104. 
Miracles,  12. 
Moral  conflict,  66. 
Moral  motive,  48. 
Moses  mistakes  of,  16. 
Mt.  Gilead,  143. 
Mulanesian  language,  110. 
Murder,  69  f. 
Myths,  5. 

Nahor,  127. 
Natural  religion,  116. 
Nation  grace  in,  177. 
Nature  human,  49. 
Naram-Sin,  85. 
Nimrod,  107. 
Noah,  4. 

Obedience,  59. 

Offering,        178;       Offering, 

Cain's,  72. 
Old  Testament  typical,  179. 
Orr,  Dr.,  46,  80. 
Ought,  47. 

Padan  Aran,  140. 

Paliolithic  Man,  44. 

Pantheism,  23. 

Pasteur,  25. 

Patriarchs,  122. 

Paul,  137. 

Peloubet,  127. 

Penuel,  143. 

Petrie,  86. 

Polygamy,  101. 

Population  before  the  flood, 

98. 
Praver,  135. 
Presturch,  Prof.,  92. 
Priest,  178; 

high,  179. 
Promise  the  first,  66. 
Prophecy,  11. 
Protevangelism,  66. 


188 


INDEX 


Providence,  3,  152. 
Psalm  Imprecatory,  13. 
Punishment,  63. 
Pyramids,  111. 

Race  beginning  of,  56;  dis- 
tribution of,  56  f,  106; 
firom  God,  158;  unity  of, 
55,  108. 

Rachel,  162. 

Rain,  58  f. 

Reason,  47. 

Rebekah,  139. 

Redway  and  Himman's  Geo- 
graphy, 44. 

Revelation  and  Grace,  3; 
method  of,  4f;  God  author 
of,  158,  177;  unity  of,  157. 

Sabbath,  39,  179. 

Sacrifice,   67,    123;     human, 

71;  institution  of,  2,  3. 
Salvation,  3. 
Sancrit,  109. 
Sayce,  127. 
Savage,  48. 
Science  and  the  Bible,  2 ;  and 

revelation,  21,  59. 
Serpent,  60. 
Seth,  75. 

Sin,  78f;  origin  of,  51. 
Sons  of  God,  76,  165. 
Speech,  47,  107. 
Spiritual  nature,  48. 
Spontaneous  generation,   25, 

28,  35. 


Stanley,  125,  131. 

Stars,  31. 

St.  Augustine,  25. 

Substitution,  70. 

Succession,  34. 

Subjection  of  all  nations,  179. 

SuflFering  and  Exaltation,  158. 

Tabernacle,  2,  178. 
Tablets,  112. 
Temple,  2,  178. 
Tertiary  period,  45. 
Theist  and  Evolutionist,  35. 
Thompson,  Sir  William,  28. 
Tongues  confusion  of,  105. 
Townsend,  Prof.,  88,98. 
Transmission,  34. 
Trench,  108. 
Truth,  6  f. 
Tyndall,  35. 

Unity  of  mankind,  53  f. 
Ur  of  Chaldees,  126. 

Vegetable  Life,  28,  58. 
Von  Humboldt,  110. 

Wallace,  Alfred,  32,  91. 
Whately,  Dr.,  86. 
Whitney,  Prof.,  110. 
Winchell,  Prof.,  46. 
World,  31. 

World  before  the  Flood,  89. 
Worship,  171 ;  forms  of,  177. 
Writings  early,  112. 


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